I was a normal guy once. Going to uni, working on videos, playing games, maybe eating poorly. I wasn’t sure when exactly that ended, but it did, because now, I was someone else—a few years younger, born into a cramped village hidden deep underground. Life was hard, but I had become a pale young man with a body shaped by hard work.

  I was Set.

  I was the son of parents who died during a hunt that went wrong. I grew up with everyone else, just trying to stay alive as monsters roamed around our shambling homes. I stepped up to go hunting, to make sure my only family and I could have just a little more food.

  And my luck had just run out.

  My left arm was barely connected to my shoulder, and in the jaws of the Shadow Beast that had ambushed the hunting party I was part of. I was being dragged into the darkness by my arm, and no one was coming to save me.

  My eyes opened. Here, moments from death, I had gone and remembered twenty or so years of life on Earth. I turned my head, grimacing at the Mauler-type Shadow Beast. A hulking, quadrupedal thing, its dark body shifted like a shadow being shifted by an unstable light, parts of it melting and reforming with each movement. Its silver eyes clustered across its shoulders and head, unblinking, reflected dim light like stars in the darkness. Its head was like a droopy dog’s, but massive. My arm looked like a stick in it. And to my surprise, this thing had patches of shadowy fur over more muscular and tight skin. This was probably the closest anyone still breathing had ever gotten to one of these.

  “Bastards,” I muttered. “I didn’t want to be that guy.”

  The hunting party–that arrogant guy had pushed me into this thing. He was the one who dragged us past the boundary, and when this thing appeared, he shoved me straight into its maw before bolting with the others.

  I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain.

  The Mauler wasn’t killing me outright. This thing was taking me to its den like an animal would… That had to be why I was still alive. And then… remembering my past life–that had to mean something.

  “I’m not dead yet.”

  I glared at my left shoulder. I was so sure that my arm was out of its socket. The only thing holding me together were strands of flesh.

  I clenched my jaw. I needed a sign. God, anything would be good.

  If remembering my past life meant something, then now was the time to show it. Some kind of miracle, some hidden power—anything.

  A flicker of light flashed across my vision. Then, a blue, translucent screen—sleek and crisp—unfolded before me. There were some big, bold words right at the top.

  ***

  CHECKLIST

  ? Escape a Shadow Beast’s grasp.

  ? Drink fresh water.

  ? Eat a Strobe Berry.

  ? Discover the Laughing Passage.

  ? Kill a Shadow Beast.

  ? Discover a Trial Terminal.

  ? Activate a Trial Terminal.

  ? Visit a foreign settlement.

  ? Activate a Nascent Terminal.

  ? Extinguish a Torch of Preserving Shadows.

  ***

  My breath faltered. What was this?

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  A status screen? A list of tasks? There was no explanation, no tutorial, just the glowing text floating in front of me like it had always been there.

  I had no idea who gave me this list—or why—but the first item was the kick that I needed. I was a soft guy in my first life, but this miserable, cursed, stupid place–it made ‘Set’ someone a little more than willing to experience pain today if it meant breathing tomorrow.

  That first item–if I could do it, then that item on this list was a promise. Something would happen if I could do it!

  The Mauler had already done the majority of the work for me. I just had to commit and finish the job.

  A cold wave of understanding settled over me as my heart steadied. There was no grand power-up, no sudden awakening of hidden strength. Only the conviction needed to survive.

  I took a shaky breath. My arm was already ruined—I didn’t need to waste more time thinking about it.

  “Rip it off, Set,” I told myself.

  Bile came up my throat. But I set my jaw. Punk out and die was the only other option.

  Bracing my right hand against my shoulder, I twisted. Flesh tore. A wet, ripping sound filled my ears, followed by a sharp, blinding agony that sent my vision white.

  Teeth bared, a growled. “Come on!”

  The Mauler jolted, feeling the shift in weight.

  My eyes locked with the spinning silver eyes. I twisted against the rocky ground, every inch of my tearing arm giving me more leeway.

  I slammed my foot into the cluster of eyes on its shoulder as hard as I could. A guttural snarl rumbled through its body, but it didn’t let go.

  I pressed my feet against its body and threw my entire weight back—pulling, twisting, wrenching. My back lifted off the ground. The Mauler’s jaws refused to unclench.

  “Come on! Shake that muzzle! Rip it off!”

  I kicked it in the shoulder eyes again.

  “Shake me off!”

  Its head jerked to the side. The last strands of muscle gave way with a sickening snap.

  I was free.

  I hit the ground, and made myself roll away, my breath coming in ragged gasps. My left side felt light, the sheer shock muting everything else.

  The Mauler whipped its head around, confused for a moment, before its many silver eyes refocused on me. The wetness pouring out of my left side–I was such an idiot. What was I going to do bleeding like this?

  “Great… I freed myself to die of blood loss,” I said, laughing at myself.

  The Checklist flickered.

  ***

  ? Escape a Shadow Beast’s grasp.

  +1 Level.

  ***

  “Level?”

  A surge of something—not healing, not relief, just a raw, unfamiliar energy—coursed through me in an instant. My eyes were glued to my left arm as my amazement escaped my lips in the form of stupid-sounding groans.

  This energy–it wasn’t enough to fix my arm, but it was enough to close the wounds and stop the bleeding.

  Suddenly, things changed in my vision.

  In the top-left corner of my sight, two bars flickered into existence. A green HP bar—full—sat above a thinner blue SP bar that was just as full. Both were sleek, translucent, and edged with faint, angular lines. It really was like something out of a game’s UI.

  Then, on the right, another display unfolded, listing numbers in crisp, white text:

  ***

  HP: 11/11

  SP: 11/11

  Set | Level 1

  Strength: 3 (+1)

  Endurance: 2 (+1)

  Agility: 2 (+1)

  Dexterity: 2 (+1)

  Perception: 3 (+1)

  Intelligence: 2 (+1)

  Willpower: B

  ***

  I barely had time to process the numbers, but they made sense on first glance. I was just some villager before all this. A body used to hunting was all I had, but nothing beyond that.

  And now, I was down an arm. Surprised that wasn’t show up somehow.

  I struggled to my feet. The Mauler wasn’t done. My arm in its mouth, it shuffled around, many silver eyes on me. I put my one arm up.

  “Heh, I have no idea what my next move is going to be.”