A small chime noise could be heard in my mind and then the message Level +1 could be seen across my face.
I barely had time to think about it before a another message popped up in front of me.
Welcome to the System.
To proceed please a Trait choose from the list of available Traits
Traits? What the hell is a Trait?
âFreddy!!!â
I looked up from the screen to see my Grandpa pointing to the sky and this time he wasnât pointing at the chains that still hung above.
Instead it looked to be some type of giant bird? Iâve never seen a bird that big before, but that wasnât the weird part, the bird had a saddle on it.
There was someone riding the damn bird.
âFreddy duck!!â
Shit!
I didnât need any motivation to listen to my Grandpa and dropped to the deck as fast as I could only to see there was a second mounted bird as it flew above me.
The wind pressure generated from the massive bird pressed me into the deck of the boat even harder.
I got up in a rush only to see the one of them had circled back around and was practically in a nose dive straight towards us.
Thatâs when I finally got a good look at one of the riders.
It looked a man wearing basic medieval armor, but his skin was a dark red.
He held a spear in his hands and I just barely saw him making the motion of drawing it backwards before I felt my Grandpa pick me up and jump over the side of the boat.
BOOM!!!
As we felt the embrace of the water, a loud boom sounded behind us.
One that had to be particularly devasting because shards of the boat broke off and flew into the water around us.
Fuck they really destroyed my Grandpaâs boat.
No time to worry about that though, how the hell are we gonna get out of this dammit. Two red people on giant birds are launching spears at us and our only ride back to land was smashed into who knows how many pieces.
I felt Grandpa pulling us up to resurface and when we broke the surface of the water I could quite clearly see the remains of boat.
It was just big pieces of wood splintered all over the place and what looked to be an oil fire on top of the water from the destroyed engine.
But the giant birds hadnât left.
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In fact they were hovering directly above us.
âMy boatâ¦my fucking boat!â
Grandpa sounded distraught as we flopped around in the water, then out of nowhere he reached behind his back with his off hand and pulled out a pistol.
I knew he brought it everywhere but I didnât realize he managed to get it off the boat.
âCome here you dirty red bastards!â
They didnât seem to realize that my Grandpa held a gun in his hands as they made no movements to get out of the way.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Grandpa fired four quick shots.
And if there was one thing thatâs been true about Grandpa. Heâs always been a good shot. A great shot even.
All four shots connected, two into each bird.
âCawww!!!â
Cries of pain resounded from both of them but Grandpa hadnât stop firing shots. The red people on the birds began screaming out words I couldnât understand and before I knew it they were flying away as fast as they could and Grandpa stopped firing.
âCome back here you red pieces of shit! Think you could just destroy my boat and get away with it!
âIâve had that since before youâve sucking on your mamaâs tits! Come back here!!â
Well Grandpa wasnât lying about how long he had the boat. Itâs even older than my dad but my Grandpa has always refused to get a new one.
Itâs the one he bought with my Grandma. In fact itâs named after her. The Andrea.
My Grandma died a few years back, and whenever Grandpa missed her a bit more than usual he would come to the boat and just relax by himself.
Yet now it was destroyed.
âFuck!â
He cursed one final time then closed his eyes.
A moment passed before he opened them and looked towards me.
âCâmon Freddy, thereâs a few pieces of her left thatâs big enough to float with, grab on to one.â
He tucked his gun away and began swimming towards the wreckage. I followed after him.
I grabbed on to a piece of wood and used to it give my feet some rest, my Grandpa did the same and when I looked over at him he had his eyes closed as he rested.
He is probably thinking about Grandma.
Best to leave him alone then.
Sigh
Well, a lot of shit just happened. One minute I was casually fishing with Grandpa, and the next we were being attacked by red people on giant birds.
Now were floating aimlessly in water with no way home.
I donât think a single one of Grandpaâs LitRPG books ever started this bad. Whereâs the damn tutorial? Or the old sage in my head to explain things to me? What about being teleported to a white room where a system robot can give me a quick rundown of the situation?
Nope instead we just get thrown right into the thick of it.
Guess reality is always a bit different.
Anyway, weâre still alive and the giant birds and their red riders got scared off by the gun.
Weâre goodâ¦weâre good.
Phewâ¦That feels better. Alright what was this Trait thing now.
Status?
Ah and the screen is back. Okay, guess I just need to think about it and it appears. Simple enough.
Welcome to the System.
To proceed please choose a Trait from the list of available Traits
Traits.
· Toughened Skin (Rooted)
· Balanced Stance (Rooted)
· Quick Reflex (Rooted)
· Efficient Digestion (Rooted)
· â¦
· Early Night Vision (Rooted)
A massive list of traits quickly expanded in front of me. It was honestly a bit overwhelming to look at. It seems like there were hundreds of Traits here, and I hadnât even received an explanation as to what they were.
Butâ¦I guess it doesnât take a genius to see that they would improve my body somehow.
As I focused on Toughened Skin, another window opened up in front of it.
Toughened Skin (Rooted)
Your skin is slightly more resistant to cuts, scrapes, and friction. Provides minimal physical defense.
Oh so if I focus on an option Iâll get a description. Hm, toughened skin is quite literally as the name implies.
Letâs check another one.
Quick Reflex (Rooted)
Grants a marginal boost to reaction time during sudden danger or fast-moving encounters.
Alright I get itâ¦but do we even have time for me to go through this entire list?
Maybe I can filter itâ¦
Something for lungs maybe? Weâre probably going to have to swim back to land, and who knows if we get attacked again. Being able to swim for longer underwater should help with that I think.
Filter by Traits related to lungs.
Oh shit it worked.
Traits
· Water Holding Breath (Rooted)
· Oxygen Efficient Lungs (Rooted)
· Steady Breathing (Rooted)
· Controlled Exhalation (Rooted)
· â¦
· Cold Air Resilience (Rooted)
Yeah okayâ¦I can make this work.