Devin flipped to his ‘Boost’ page. It listed his 11 Boosts and included a description of each. Three of them gave bonuses to his Attributes. ‘Language Starter Kit’ let him speak and understand the language of this kingdom, which was called Teth. ‘Skill Hound’ doubled some of his Attribute gains when he used an ability.

  The others were more complicated. He started with his three combat Boosts.

  Steel Knuckles – Your fists are weapons. Unarmed attacks against armored opponents won’t even skin your precious knuckles. Wearing armor cancels this Boost.

  Grats! This is a Rare Boost!

  Ninja – You are a master of stealth, an expert in quick and ruthless attacks, and as difficult to strike as a shadow. +5 bonus to Hide, Sneak, Spot Hidden and other relevant abilities. Surprise attacks do bonus damage and are more likely to be critical hits. You can dual-wield weapons associated with the Agility Attribute. Wearing armor cancels this Boost.

  Tough Skin – Your skin has been reinforced to deflect cuts and blows. This nifty ability also provides protection equivalent to Silver-level chain mail. Wearing armor cancels this Boost.

  All three Boosts had the ‘no armor’ restriction. Since Devin didn’t have any armor, that was fine. It was clear he was a rogue-fighter hybrid with some old-school monk mixed in. Not his first choice, but he could work with it – especially the Ninja Boost, which was just cool.

  Next, he read his Unique Boost.

  Boost ‘Ghost in the Machine’ – In Latin, Deus Ex Machina means ‘God in the Machine.’ We don’t want to offend any gods, so we’re going with the more colloquial ‘ghost’ here. This Boost will allow you to unlock Achievements at a rate no one has ever seen before.

  Devin had played enough games to know what an ‘Achievement’ was. He opened the Achievements tab and saw he’d gained 12 Achievements, most of them during his character creation. He looked for a list of ‘locked’ achievements, which would be extremely helpful, but there wasn’t one.

  He moved on to his final two Boosts. These were more complicated than the others since they used something called ‘shards.’ That must be this world’s currency. According to his Achievement log, he’d earned a few of those, but he wasn’t sure how to get them. He read the Boosts.

  Boost ‘Kwaku’s Compass.’ The passive version of this Boost provides an innate sense of direction, preventing you from getting lost in all but the most extreme circumstances. You can spend Universal Knowledge shards to provide a hint on where to go for your next adventure. The cost of a hint increases each time one is received.

  Grats! This is a Rare boost!

  Boost ‘Victorious Transmutation.’ You can create the right gear to triumph in the future. After defeating a worthy opponent, their weapons, armor, and equipment can be transmuted into items more suitable for your party. In the case of animals and monsters, parts or all of the remains will be transmuted. You can always identify any object you create through Victorious Transmutation. Shard type and cost varies depending on item level and type of item created. Be careful – if you don’t have enough shards, you’ll lose the loot!

  Congratulations! This is an Exceptional Boost!

  Tip: If you’re confused about details of your character sheet, ask your Guide! That’s what he’s here for.

  Devin didn’t feel well enough to keep reading, so he closed his menus and turned to Milo.

  “You’re my Guide?” he said.

  “I believe I mentioned that not too long ago,” Milo said.

  “I know, I just … I thought you were saying ‘guide’, like you’re here to guide me. I didn’t know that you were a Guide with a capital ‘g.’ It’s a class, not a description?”

  “Technically it’s both, so I understand your confusion.”

  “Right,” Devin said. “Soo …”

  “You have more questions?” Milo said.

  “I do. What are these shards, and how do I get them?”

  “Later,” Milo said.

  “But ...”

  “Later.”

  Devin sighed. So much for guidance. They rode in silence for a while.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Do you have Attributes and abilities and enhancement levels and stuff to guide me?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, helping me is like, your quest? What level are you? Do you gain levels when I do? Do you have some sort of control over this world?”

  “Yes, Silver, sort of, and absolutely not. Like you, I have no control over our environment aside from what a being could normally exert through might or magic.”

  “And you’re just here for me personally. No one else?”

  “No one else,” Milo said. “My fate is tied to yours. On that note, you have Tree Rot dissolving its way through your body, and you need to sleep. It won’t heal you, but you’re exhausted, and it's a long way to Horgoff.”

  “I’ll never fall asleep on this damned mule,” Devin said. Seconds later, he was snoring.

  A pain in Devin’s leg woke him up. He looked down to see Milo’s teeth clamped on his shin.

  “Hey,” he muttered. “That hurts.”

  “We have a problem,” Milo said in a low voice.

  Devin realized the mule had stopped. He blinked and looked up. The sun was high in the sky, and the road in front of them was blocked by a dozen armed men. All of them wore leather armor of some kind and wielded clubs except for the leader, who wore chain mail and carried a sword at his side. The rest of the men had clubs, except for four who carried spears.

  “Uh, oh,” Devin said.

  “Did we ruin your nap, peasant?” the leader said. He had some sort of bird symbol on his tunic.

  “No, sir,” Devin said. “I was just …”

  “Get off that mule,” the leader said.

  Devin swayed, tried to dismount, and fell off the mule. The soldiers laughed as he rolled in the dirt.

  “He ain’t learned how to walk yet, lieutenant!” a soldier said.

  “Pick him up,” the lieutenant said. A pair of strong arms grabbed Devin and pulled him to his feet. He didn’t resist. A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head up. He opened his eyes to see the lieutenant’s ugly face centimeters from his.

  “Where did you get that mule, boy?” the lieutenant said.

  Devin wrinkled his nose. “You should see a dentist,” he said. “I think you’ve got advanced periodontitis.”

  “What the fuck did you say?” the lieutenant screamed in his face.

  “I said, I think you should …”

  The lieutenant punched him in the gut. There were several pops and cracks. The lieutenant screamed and held up his hand.

  “He broke my fucking hand!” the man yelled. “Kill him!”

  “Hold on,” Devin said. “There’s no need for …”

  A soldier swung his club into Devin’s side. It didn’t penetrate, but it joggled his guts, and that hurt like hell. Without thinking, he snatched the spear and slammed it down on the soldier’s head. It broke, and so did the soldier’s head. He crumpled.

  The lieutenant yelled. Soldiers scrambled all around him. Their movements were slow and awkward, and the idea of one of them killing him seemed ridiculous.

  Another club swung at him. Devin ducked underneath it and punched the soldier in the face. The man’s head twisted around with a crack.

  “Whoops,” Devin said. “Sorry about …”

  One of the soldiers produced a morning star – a wooden shaft with a spiked ball on the end. He swung at Devin’s face. Devin caught the ball and yanked it out of the soldier’s hand. Then he snapped the handle in half. The man backed away. His eyes were wide.

  Devin looked over at Milo, who was standing by the mule.

  “A little help?” he said.

  Milo turned around to groom himself.

  One of the soldiers grabbed Devin from behind and lifted him in the air. The man was probably trying to slam him into the ground, but Devin elbowed him in the face before he could complete the move. The man screamed as his whole face caved in.

  Devin staggered. Being lifted into the air had jogged his insides, and they burned like fire. A club hit him on the back of his neck, right below his skull. He stumbled forward. Someone tripped him.

  Devin was on the ground. He clutched his stomach as boots and clubs smacked into him. It was like being caught in a hailstorm with pea-sized hail.

  “It’s a Warlock!” someone yelled. “Kill him before he can cast any spells!”

  Something heavy smashed down on Devin’s head. This time, it hurt. Something inside him snapped. He grabbed the next leg that kicked him and swung it over his head. The man yelled as he flew in an arc, then collided with another soldier with a crack.

  Devin kicked out and shattered someone’s knee. A soldier screamed, and Devin rolled back on his shoulders and kicked to his feet like an acrobat. The next few seconds were a blur. Devin punched, kicked and thrashed, just trying to make everyone stop hitting him.

  He came back to himself surrounded by a pile of bodies. The only person still on his feet was the lieutenant. He was half-jogging, half-limping down the road, screaming at the top of his lungs.

  “The Warlock is going to kill me! Somebody help!”

  Devin snarled. He reached down and picked up the morning star he’d broken. He snapped off the rest of the handle and threw the spiked ball. It smacked into the back of the lieutenant’s head and buried itself halfway into his skull. Blood and brains exploded, and the officer crumpled to the ground.

  Hidden Boost Revealed! Semi-Pro. Take me out to the ball game … years of playing baseball gives you a few practical advantages in this new world. Provides a +10 bonus to the abilities ‘Small Sphere, Thrown,’ ‘Melee, Club,’ and ‘Catch.’

  Congratulations! This is a Very Rare Boost!

  “Nice throw,” Milo said.

  Weakness returned and Devin looked at Milo. The dog sat on the side of the road holding the mule’s reins.

  “You could have helped,” Devin said.

  “I did help,” Milo said. “I kept this mule from running away.”

  “I meant help me fight!”

  “You didn’t need help,” Milo said. “If any of those common soldiers had been enhanced, I would have assisted you, but the odds against that were astronomical. For now, it makes more sense not to reveal my abilities in case anyone is watching. Besides, if you can’t beat a bunch of normals, it’s best that we find that out now.”

  “Damn, that’s cold,” Devin said.

  “Senarci is a cold place,” Milo said. “You’d best get used to it.”

  Devin wanted to give Milo a good cussing out, but he didn’t have the strength for it.

  “At least bring the mule over to me,” Devin said.

  “Very well,” Milo said. He led the mule over. Devin climbed back on, put his head down, and passed out again.

  Devin didn’t remember much about the rest of the trip. He was in and out as the mule plodded through the night and next morning. They arrived in the vicinity of Horgoff around noon the next day. The road topped a hill overlooking the town, and they stopped there.

  By then, pus was leaking from the puckered wound on Devin’s stomach, and his torso was turning black. He was having trouble breathing.

  “You need rest,” Milo said. “You’ll feel better in a few hours if you get some sleep.”

  “I slept the whole way here,” Devin muttered.

  “That was delirium, not sleep,” Milo said.

  “You expect me to go to sleep right here in the middle of the road?” Devin said.

  “Why don’t we climb that tree?” Milo said. “We can rest there until you feel better.”

  Devin groaned. The tree was a 20-meter-tall oak dominating the hill. There were plenty of low branches but climbing a tree was the last thing Devin wanted to do right now.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” he said.

  “Don’t be foolish,” Milo said. “If I wanted to kill you, I’d have left you at the farm.”

  Devin couldn’t argue with that. He grabbed the lowest branch and pulled himself up.

  Halfway up the tree he was cursing himself, but he pushed through the pain. He’d already expended too much energy to quit. He reached a branch that was bigger around than he was. He clung to it panting when a familiar tingle played in his brain. He’d turned off the text but left the ‘haptic alerts’ active.

  He found a position where he didn’t think he’d fall and closed his eyes to rest. He could do his recon later. Milo climbed up next to him, turned a circle on the branch, and went to sleep right next to him. Devin drifted off a few moments later.

  When he woke up, he found himself staring into the face of an enormous bobcat.