Adam came back to awareness on damp earth.
Not gently.
His shoulder hit first, then his ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs in a sharp grunt as cold mud soaked through his shirt. For a heartbeat he thought he’d collapsed in some forgotten training field back home—rain, pain, disorientation all too familiar.
Then the smell hit him.
Wet leaves. Rich loam. Sap. Something metallic and sharp that wasn’t blood—not yet.
Adam rolled onto his back and stared up through the forest canopy. Towering trees loomed overhead, their branches tangled together like grasping fingers. Rain fell in a steady drizzle, pattering against leaves and his face alike.
No ceiling.
No hospital lights.
No IV lines tugging at his arms.
He sucked in a breath—and froze.
It didn’t hurt.
Not the deep, gnawing agony that had become his constant companion. No lightning bolt of pain down his spine. No numbness in his legs. Just soreness. Impact pain. Honest, earned discomfort.
He sat up slowly, heart pounding, hands patting himself down like he expected to find the truth hidden somewhere under his skin.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered.
His reflection stared back at him from a shallow puddle beside the path. Dark black hair—or rather stubble—clung wetly to his head. His cheeks were full again, eyes clear. No sunken hollows. No pallor.
He looked… whole.
Adam let out a shaky laugh that bordered on a sob. “I really did it,” he whispered. “I’m in a new world.”
The forest answered with movement.
Chittering.
Low at first. Curious. Then sharper. Aggressive.
Adam’s head snapped up.
Shapes darted between the trees—small, fast, too many. They burst into view moments later, and his breath caught despite himself.
They looked like chipmunks.
If chipmunks had grown to the size of small dogs, their incisors long and yellowed, eyes glowing faintly with feral intelligence.
“Well,” Adam said flatly, pushing himself to his feet, “what is this a pokemon?”
The nearest one hissed and charged.
Adam didn’t think.
He moved.
Old instincts kicked in—weight shifting, stance grounding. He raised his fists, feet sliding into a familiar boxing posture he hadn’t assumed in years, but his body remembered instantly.
The first Razorback Chipmunk lunged.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Adam stepped inside its charge and drove a short, tight hook into its skull.
Impact jolted up his arm. Bone met bone. The creature collapsed in a twitching heap.
A translucent shimmer flashed in the corner of his vision, but Adam barely registered it as the second and third came in from either side.
“Alright,” he growled. “Let’s do this.”
He ducked low, letting claws rake harmlessly overhead, then came up with a brutal uppercut that snapped a jaw sideways. Teeth flew. Blood sprayed. The rain washed it away almost immediately.
The last one hesitated.
Adam advanced.
It screeched and leapt.
He caught it mid-air, twisting, slamming it into the ground hard enough to drive the breath from both of them. He finished it with a downward strike that left his knuckles slick and throbbing.
Silence followed.
Adam stood there, chest heaving, rain soaking him through as the bodies lay still around him.
Then the pain came.
Sharp. Localized. Honest.
A gash along his forearm. A bite mark on his calf. Bruising already blooming beneath the skin.
He laughed quietly. “I’ve had hangovers worse than that.”
He crouched, tearing a strip from his shirt and binding the worst of it with practiced efficiency. Field dressing. Clean. Fast. No wasted movement.
As he finished, a soft golden glow flickered at the bottom left of his vision.
Adam paused.
“…Huh.”
He focused on it.
The world dimmed slightly as a translucent screen unfolded before him.
*New Skill Acquired-
Basic unarmed combat (Lv 1)
STATUS – ADAM COMMEREE
Level: 1
Race: Human(D)
Affinity: None
Class: None
Profession: None
Titles:
- Reincarnator – Retains memories of a previous life.. Increased adaptability to System mechanics.
Attributes:
- Strength: 8
- Endurance: 13
- Dexterity: 7
- Perception: 9
- Intelligence: 6
- Luck: 5
Skills:
- Extraction (Lv.1) – Allows recovery of materials and currency from defeated creatures. Efficiency increases with skill level.
- Communication (N/A) – Ability to understand and speak native languages.
- Identify (N/A) – Ability to see the names, levels, and some basic information depending on other skills.
- Subspace Storage (N/A) – Grants access to a personal storage space unaffected by weight or decay.
- Basic unarmed combat (Lv. 1) - You prefer to get your hands dirty and get close to your enemies, showing them that these hands mean business.
Adam blinked.
“…I’ve seen worse interfaces.”
Another window slid in, this one crisp and unmistakably pleased with itself.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED – FIRST BLOOD
First kill in Veridion. Survival begins with action.
Reward:
- Endurance increased by 3%
He felt it immediately—a subtle deepening of his breath, a steadier strength in his limbs.
Adam exhaled slowly. “Guess that’s better than motrine.”
His gaze dropped to the fallen creatures. He felt a pull, an instinct, as he reached out and willed Extraction.
The bodies dissolved into motes of light.
New items appeared in his awareness.
LOOT ACQUIRED:
- Razorback Hide (x3)
- Fangs (x6)
- Raw Meat (x12)
- Seal-Minted Coin Shards:
- Bronze (x14)
Adam frowned slightly, pulling one into his hand.
The coin shard was stamped with a familiar insignia—an eagle clutching an anchor and trident. The Navy SEAL emblem, rendered in worn bronze that felt like it was charged with energy.
“…Really,” he said quietly. Then, after a beat, “oh well, moneys money.”
The items vanished into his Subspace with a thought. No weight. No resistance. Just like breathing, natural.
Adam straightened and looked around the forest again.
Rain streaked down his face, but he didn’t wipe it away. He let it mix with sweat and blood and something dangerously close to relief.
For the first time in a long while, the pain wasn’t the end of the story.
As he stood there contemplating what came next, another screen slid into view—cool, patient, inevitable.
System Note:
First-time combatant performance within acceptable survival parameters.
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE
Quest: Hunt 10 Forest Creatures
Reward: 50 EXP
Type: Continuous
Adam stared at that for a long second.
“…That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a while.”
Then he looked at the dark forest stretching endlessly ahead.
A slow grin tugged at his mouth.
“Yeah,” he said, cracking his knuckles. “I can do that.”
And somewhere in the rain-soaked woods of Veridion, Adam Commeree took his first real step into a future that was finally his to fight for.