(Book 1 Complete!) Side Quest [Isekai / LitRPG]

Just as the writhing tentacle crossed the demarcating shoreline, it flattened against an invisible barrier with a wet thwack. It squeaked like a squeegee cleaning a window as it slid downward against whatever blockade held it back. Logan flinched, and the monster doubled back for a second lash. Again, something thwarted it, as if the thing slapped against bulletproof glass.

Each time it hit the barrier, muscles bulged in a spastic frenzy underneath the appendage's purple flesh. The concerto of grotesque contractions reverberated from the tentacle's tip all the way to wherever it ended beneath the water. It reminded Logan of the undulating torch slug bodies.

Logan didn't waste any time scooting back. Four more times, the relentless tentacle lunged before it finally gave up and slunk back into the water. Bubbles appeared near the river's edge until finally they retreated into the distance.

The rush of relief triggered a dizzy spell, and Logan passed out.

When he came to, his forehead throbbed. Hunger gnawed at him and thirst dried his mouth. Yet the thought of food conjured Feast's decrepit figure, and the devil himself couldn't convince Logan to slake his thirst from the filmy, danger-ridden water.

Notifications flashed angrily at Logan.

He knuckled his temples, trying to quell the headache at least somewhat, and then opened them.

A flood of error messages, complete with incorrect spelling and scrambled characters, assaulted his vision. They layered atop one another, and before he could dismiss one, another piled on.

The System had never presented spammy pop-up windows, but he supposed there was a first for everything. After a full thirty-second barrage, the illegible text vanished, replaced by the stylized prompt Logan recognized.

Congratulations! You have completed your initial trial!
Error. Infernal Slug Mother still lives. Trial incomplete.
Error. Gnashridge Valley environ detected. Trial completed.
ERR^!
#RORR3

The System fought itself with several rounds of rewrites. Finally, it all vanished again, and after a lengthy pause, the dialog course corrected.

Congratulations! Tutorial area cleared!
Assessing…
> You have survived death. Twice.
> Through cunning and intuition, you have survived a horde of torch slugs.
> You have excavated a cave with your bare hands and improvised tools.
> You fought the Kal—ERRO—
> #!OR
> You fought stronger foes and pitted them against each other, calculating strengths against weaknesses.
> Ten fingers is not enough for you, so you took someone else's!

Assessment complete!

Trait received: Measured Touch!
When using your hands, your actions are more precise, controlled, and efficient. Sometimes tenacity makes up for technique. You've made that plenty clear. Whether you're wielding gauntlets or clawed weapons, you excel in combat where grip guides the strike.
+5% damage in manual combat

Your Heritage Boon is: Forked Gambit!
Alternate paths and unconventional decisions pay off. Some people call it luck. You call it strategy… after the fact.
+2 to Perception per Level, +1 to Intelligence and Willpower per Level

Race selection available!

Calculating selection based on individual performance...

A list of options familiar to Logan from role-playing games populated, like Human, Elf, and Gnome. Others he didn't recognize, like Serpentine, Goble, and a cryptic option named The Hair.

The System began weaning the list in real time. At the end, several dozen options had narrowed down to five.

Calculation complete!
Please select your Race.

Aerudine
Dwarf
Gnome
Goble
Human

Logan blinked at the display. What was an aerudine?

Similar to how his Analyze skill worked, he honed in on options by focusing, starting with the foreign first one.

Aerudine
Lore: The Aerudine are a winged race known for their wisdom and magical prowess. They excel in aerial maneuvering and scholarly pursuits but lack physical strength and cannot wield weapons, relying instead on their innate magical talents.
Strength: Flight, Doubled proficiency with chosen magical affinity.
Weakness: Inability to use physical weapons.

Why would a race not be able to wield weapons? Did they lack arms, and have only wings? He allowed himself to daydream of flying over jungle forests and patchwork fields, but ultimately, he dismissed the idea. After his experiences in the cave, he wanted the option to wield weapons. A long spear would have worked wonders against those stupid torch slugs.

Sure, there might be magic spells out there, but he had a limited mana supply. What if he got stuck in another cave situation and ran out of mana? Would he even be allowed to throw a rock? The description in the cave indicated the stone fragments he had knocked off the stalactites could be lobbed at enemies. And if the System considered projectiles as weapons and locked him out from using whatever he had available to defend himself, he was not on board with that.

He looked at another two options.

Goble
Lore: Gobles typically live in subterranean regions. With exceptional dexterity and a penchant for chaos, they thrive in dark places. Often underestimated because of their size and feral demeanor, Gobles excel in large numbers but are mistrusted by other races.
Strength: Night's favor, Shadow slink.
Weakness: Low intelligence, Vulnerability to bright light.

Dwarf
Lore: Dwarves are sturdy and resilient, with unyielding determination. Natural-born warriors and artisans, they may use any non-ranged weapon, and some ranged weapons. However, their focus on physical combat has led to the disappearance of mana compatibility.
Strength: High endurance, Expanded weapon proficiency, Mining Expertise.
Weakness: Slow movement, Unable to use magic.

Gobles sounded like a human-goblin hybrid and were incredibly easy to dismiss. He didn't know what either of those strengths did, and the System wouldn't tell him, either. Besides, the race was the perfect setup for a being with a not-so-subtle plan to bring about the demise of society. Definitely not for Logan.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Dwarf was almost an inverse of the aerudine. Maybe he didn't want to rely on magic spells the way the birdlike race did, but he sure as heck was curious to try them out. Not the dwarves, then.

That left Human and Gnome. Well, he knew what a human was, so he checked out Gnome.

Gnome
Lore: Gnomes are renowned for curiosity driving them to unique places. They rely on higher Charisma and Intelligence to compensate for low Strength and Endurance.
Strength: Superior spell concentration
Weakness: Exotic beverages

Error.

Due to your status as a summoned champion to save the gnomish lands, you cannot select Gnome as your Race.

Please select your Race.

The option vanished from the display. He probably wouldn't have chosen it anyway, but it still rankled Logan that he was so limited now.

"Come on, where's that option for elf? That would have been cool. Maybe even a Half-Elf?" He kept prodding the System to bring it back, but it didn't work.

With a sigh, he fixed on the last choice.

Human
Lore: Humans are the most adaptable and resourceful of all System-aligned species. While physically and magically average, humans make up for their shortcomings with unmatched versatility and vast numbers.
Strength: Inventive
Weakness: Harsh climates

Logan laughed at the mention of harsh climates. He lived in Colorado for a couple of years and knew a thing or two about weather extremes. "If that's the extent of weakness, I mean, I'm already used to it."

Besides, this Inventive strength seemed right up his alley, considering his Heritage Boon of Forked Gambit. He just wished it didn't feel so boring.

He had experienced enough to doubt he was returning home. Quite frankly, he didn't care about home, anyway. What waited for him? Unfulfilling jobs? Looming bills? The inevitable bump-ins with Janie at the grocery store where they first met? Not to mention his father's endless tirades about Logan's pathetic life.

Sure, Logan had kept in touch with a handful of coworkers from the countless odd jobs he had worked, but those relationships were all superficial. His close friends were his game night buddies, and they would probably call him an idiot for turning away from a world where actual fantasy beings and magic existed.

Once more, he toyed with the idea of selecting the aerudine race, trying to come up with convincing arguments that a weaponless being wouldn't be so bad. If he had it his way, he wouldn't really even need weapons or magic.

He would find a small town and set up a new life for himself. Maybe there was a job in this weird place that would better fit his personality. Nothing back home ever seemed to work out, but he could use this as a fresh start.

But his prior rationale of pros and cons held strong. And with the perilous encounters he had already witnessed firsthand, he doubted even the humblest job would keep him entirely free from danger.

Resigned, he chose the only practical option that seemed to fit his needs.

Race Selected: Human
+1 to Endurance and Willpower per Level, +1 Free Stat Point per Level

The System stuttered and froze, as if rubbing the mundane selection in Logan's face. But then another message came.

Congratulations! Secondary hidden Race discovered!

Exalted Kin
Lore: Unavailable
Strength: Unavailable
Weakness: Unavailable

Adding secondary bloodline.

Secondary Race Selected: Exalted Kin
+2 to Intelligence per Level, +1 to Perception and Dexterity per Level, +3 Free Stat Points per Level

Masking secondary bloodline.

"Whoa. What now?" What was with the missing information? And what did it mean that the System masked the bloodline?

Before he could question it further, a new prompt pulled up.

You have killed a Level 4 Torch Slug! Experience gain applied to trial rating.
You have killed a Level 35 Undead! Experience gain applied to trial rating.
You have killed a Level 35 Undead! Experience gain applied to trial rating.

You are now level 4!
+4 Endurance, +4 Dexterity, +12 Intelligence, +12 Perception, +8 Willpower!
You have 16 Free Stat Points

For killing an enemy 30 levels above you, you have gained a new Title!

Giant Slayer III
+8 to Endurance, +5 to Strength and Willpower
You may be small, but you know how to pack a punch.

Energy coursed through Logan. His muscles expanded beneath his skin with a small, tolerable burn, and an electrifying tingle spread through his brain. For a moment, he thought he might fall into convulsions, but he kept full control of his body. If anything, his sense of control heightened.

Logan inhaled fully, and his chest lightened with giddiness. He had never felt so good in his life, let alone taken such a deep, satisfying breath before!

"Wow!" Then he paused. Hadn't the System said he would only earn up to 3 levels depending on his performance in the initial trial? Maybe that new summon gift had played a part in improving his rewards.

Rather than complain, he flexed his grip and cracked his knuckles. He felt unstoppable.

The invigorating wash was temporary, though, and within a minute, the dull hunger-and-thirst-induced headache returned. It wasn't as bad as before, though, but he doubted it was going to get better the longer he went without food or drink.

He might be stronger, but his body was still flesh and bone. Between picking his way through stone walls with his bare hands, running for his life while being burned alive, fighting off eight different undead brothers (the System might only credit him for Iron and Silence, but Logan still counted the whole family in his tally), plummeting down a mountainside, and just barely outswimming a tentacled horror, Logan was exhausted.

A thin layer of the river algae still clung to his skin, brittle now, like dried egg-white. It crackled and released scum stink with each movement.

Seated on his rear, he tucked his feet in close so he could prop his elbows on his knees. Then he let out a weary groan. "I don't suppose there's a chance this System delivers pizza?"

Now that he had sat down, when he rose, his achy body protested even more. "I really should have used that gym membership." He ignored the shin splints and burning quads that came with each heavy step as he entered the forest.

Every tree he encountered seemed to suffer from blight, some more than others. The degree of sickness varied with each tree, which gave him hope that the strange, wilting plague might leave some altogether untouched. He vaguely recalled seeing the forest when he had first looked outside that cave he woke up in, and he didn't recall it looking unhealthy.

From some branches hung a red and purple fruit, round and roughly the size of a cantaloupe. His new challenge was finding out if they were edible. It would be a shame to survive everything so far just to die from poisoned produce.

He passed by several of the spoiled fruits that had fallen to the ground, some splattered from the drop, others just sitting in a rotten heap.

"I don't even know what an unspoiled one is supposed to look like. How am I ever going to tell which, if any, are edible?"

He slapped his forehead. The headache was really doing a number on him. He had a skill perfectly suited for this purpose.

Name: Drakla Melon
Type: Ingredient
Lore: Traveling adventurers and forest denizen prize this highly nutritious and hydrating fruit.
Status: Blighted (83%)

Elevated chance of inflicting blood poisoning

Highly elevated chance of inducing coma

Logan took a tentative step back from the fruit, but he didn't give up. He turned to another. The description read the same, except the blight was only at 76%.

"So there is a chance to find fruit that's less blighted." With renewed zeal, he set on his foraging journey.

After some time, his best candidates were two melons with 14% and 28% blight. The degree was far higher on every other fruit he encountered.

Some fruits, cracked open long ago with their spilled contents dried up, didn't even register with Analyze. That mirrored the Skill's behavior with his weaponized stone chunks back in the cave, and how they registered when they were usable, but not when they were just part of the environment. If the System knows I can't use it, perhaps it doesn't even bother showing me.

The melon's lore also enforced clues he had received from other descriptions: People existed somewhere. If he could just find them, he could offload some of his questions.

What if, though, some of those people were part of the Goble race, or were otherwise evil-aligned? And what if he encountered someone like that out here in the wild? He might have leveled up, but he still didn't have any weapons.

Before his newfound paranoia could spiral out of control, though, something beautiful caught his eye: a shiny purple drakla melon, fully untouched by the blight.