Sunny woke in darkness. The bed beneath him felt wrong—damp, sagging in the middle, its frame creaking with each breath he took. The air hung heavy with mildew and rotting wood. He blinked twice, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Moonlight filtered through broken windows, revealing a room ravaged by time and neglect. Peeling wallpaper hung in strips. A dresser with one missing drawer stood against the wall, its surface thick with dust.
Not the pristine chamber where the gods had made their bargain.
He rolled to his side and pushed himself up. The floorboards complained beneath his weight. This dilapidated place seemed a far cry from the cosmic importance the avatars had described. He stood, steadied himself against momentary dizziness, then crossed to one of the windows. The glass had long since broken away, leaving jagged shards around the edges of the frame.
Outside, a forest stretched in all directions. Massive trees with trunks wider than cars stood sentinel in the moonlight. A thousand shades of blue-gray and silver painted the landscape. No lights of civilization interrupted the darkness.
'So this is Azaroth,' he thought, the name from the mission panel surfacing in his memory.
He concentrated, attempting to summon the floating display that had shown his abilities. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the air before him shimmered, and text materialized:
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[NAME: SUNNY]
[TITLE: HERO HUNTER]
[HP: 500/500]
[MP: 1000/1000]
[LEVEL: 1]
[STRENGTH: 10]
[AGILITY: 15]
[ENDURANCE: 30]
[PERCEPTION: 16]
[INTELLIGENCE: 150]
[WILLPOWER: 500]
[ABILITIES]
[PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT: LEVEL 0/∞]
[MENTAL AUGMENTATION: LEVEL 0/∞]
[ENERGY MANIPULATION: LEVEL 0/∞]
[SPATIAL CONTROL: LEVEL 0/∞]
[TEMPORAL INFLUENCE: LEVEL 0/∞]
[BIOLOGICAL MANIPULATION: LEVEL 0/∞]
[MATTER CONVERSION: LEVEL 0/∞]
[DIMENSIONAL ACCESS: LEVEL 0/∞]
[UNIVERSAL COMPREHENSION: LEVEL 0/∞]
Above average, as promised, but hardly the godlike power he had briefly experienced during integration. He swiped at the display, exploring its functionality. It responded to his gestures, revealing additional information about his target and mission parameters, but offered no map, no guidance beyond the vague directional indicator.
"System, show me the route to the nearest settlement," he commanded.
[REQUEST DENIED: NAVIGATIONAL ASSISTANCE UNAVAILABLE AT CURRENT ABILITY LEVELS]
Of course. The gods would not make this easy.
He turned from the window and surveyed the room more carefully. His clothes—jeans and a t-shirt from his world—had been replaced with garments more suited to this realm: sturdy brown trousers, a loose linen shirt, and a leather vest. Boots of some unknown animal hide sat by the bed. Near them lay a pack containing basic provisions: dried meat, hard bread, a waterskin, and a knife with a bone handle.
Just enough to survive, but not enough to thrive.
He dressed quickly and shouldered the pack. The air outside smelled clean in a way he had almost forgotten—no exhaust fumes, no industrial chemicals, just loam and vegetation and morning dew. For a moment, he simply stood on the rotting porch of the abandoned house, filling his lungs with it.
He continued walking in the opposite direction of the hero; she could wait. Hours passed, the forest unchanging in its green and brown monotony. Nothing interesting happened. He was getting bored, the familiar hollowness deepening with each uneventful step.
The silence of the woods pressed in, broken only by the rustle of his own passage or the distant call of an unidentifiable bird. This passive waiting, this directionless wandering, was a different kind of emptiness than the one he carried within, but no more pleasant.
"System," he said finally, his voice startlingly loud in the quiet. "Is there anything productive to do around here? Something to expedite this 'growth pathway' you mentioned?"
[QUERY RECEIVED]
[ANALYZING LOCAL ENVIRONMENT FOR GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES...]
[POTENTIAL TASK IDENTIFIED]
[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE AVAILABLE: LOCAL FAUNA CONTROL]
[TASK: ELIMINATE 10 DIRE WOLVES]
[OPERATIONAL AREA: WITHIN 5 KILOMETER RADIUS OF CURRENT POSITION]
[REWARD: EXPERIENCE POINTS (EXP)]
[SYSTEM NOTE: ACCUMULATION OF EXP IS REQUIRED FOR THE PROGRESSION OF ABILITY LEVELS.]
He stared at the panel. 'Dire wolves. Ten of them. For experience points.' It was the kind of task one might find in a poorly designed game, a tedious chore meant to occupy time. From a chamber that defied comprehension and a bargain for unlimited power, to hunting common predators for meager advancement. The bathos was not lost on him.
His current attributes flickered at the bottom of his awareness: [STRENGTH: 10], [AGILITY: 15]. Barely adequate. His [ENDURANCE: 30] was better, and his [INTELLIGENCE: 150] and [WILLPOWER: 500] were substantial, but those would not directly help him wrestle a wolf to the ground. He possessed a single knife with a bone handle, packed for him by some unseen quartermaster of the gods. It felt flimsy in his hand when he considered its purpose against fangs and claws.
'This is how it begins, then,' he thought. Not with a bang, but with a grind. 'Ten wolves. It will be dangerous with my current physical capabilities.'
"Accept objective," he stated, his voice flat.
The panel flashed once.
[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: LOCAL FAUNA CONTROL ACCEPTED]
[TARGETS: 10 DIRE WOLVES]
[ADDITIONAL SUPPORT: TARGET TRACKING ASSISTANCE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE. IMPROVED [PERCEPTION] OR [MENTAL AUGMENTATION] LEVELS REQUIRED.]
[RECOMMENDATION: UTILIZE CONVENTIONAL TRACKING METHODS AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS.]
'Naturally,' he acknowledged internally. 'No shortcuts.' The gods were not inclined to make his journey easy. They had promised him everything, but the path to claiming it was apparently paved with mundane, lethal trials.
He scanned the dense forest around him. The dappled sunlight illuminated a thick undergrowth, the ground soft with fallen leaves and humus. He was no woodsman, no hunter by trade. His life before had been one of urban routines and sterile environments. But his high intelligence allowed him to process information rapidly, to learn. He would have to adapt.
The boredom had at least receded, replaced by a cold, practical focus. This was a problem, and problems had solutions. He needed to find these wolves, or rather, create an advantageous situation before they found him. The knife was insufficient. He needed better tools, or a better plan. Perhaps both.
He began to move with a new deliberateness, his eyes no longer vacant but actively searching the forest floor for any sign—a footprint in a patch of mud, a broken twig, disturbed leaves. The hero could wait in her nascent, prophesied glory.
Sunny had his own, far less glamorous, ascent to begin. Each wolf would be a small step, a minuscule fraction of the power he intended to reclaim. It was a long way from Level 0 to infinity.