Chapter 5

Now that Remy was alone he turned his attention to the text that had been blinking away in the corner of his vision.

[System fully functional. Status module operational. Inventory module operational.]

Remy figured his system worked on two distinct parts. The status usually showed the total abilities of a person under numerical form. It described Skills and kept count of levels. The Inventory was generally a sub-space only the system user had access to. He could store different things inside depending on the rules that dictated its use.

'Status' Remy firmly ordered in his mind. The instant his command was finished a soft bell rung and a transparent screen appeared in front of him.

[Status]

Name: Remy Riverson

Age: 15

Level: 1 (0/100)

HP: 100/100

MP: 120/120

STR: 8

VIT: 7

DEX: 10

AGI: 10

INT: 12

Points: 0

Perks: [None]

Skills: [None]

Remy spent a few seconds marveling at the fact that he was actually witnessing something like this. He turned his attention to each category and realized that if he focused he could see more details about it.

He knew vaguely what everything might represent from his previous world's media, but he still made sure to go through each and every one of them except for his name and age.

[Level: A living being's grade of development. Everyone has one. Accumulating experience and advancing is done unconsciously by most.]

Remy was confused a bit about the fact that everyone could level up. It took a few seconds to search his acquired memories before he understood. People in this fantasy world were capable of superhuman feats.

They didn't have the concept of "levels" or "experience points". For example, a warrior might begin by barely being able to swing a sword to cutting rocks apart in a single strike. In his mind, he didn't "level up" he just got better.

[HP: Health points. The numerical value of the user's life force. Once it reaches 0 death is inevitable.]

That was nothing new in Remy's experience. What he was curious about was how much did the HP interfere with reality. Would he regenerate a missing limb as soon as the HP went back to full? Could he survive a stab through the heart or decapitation if he had enough points?

If he was honest with himself, Remy would prefer not finding out the answer to these questions.

[MP: Mana points. The numerical value of the magical energy at user's disposal. Once it reaches 0 the user may enter a coma.]

No one could blame Remy for being excited at the prospect of magic. His old world had the concept of it, but he never heard of actual magic being performed. Now that he had the possibility to do so he looked forward to his life in this fantasy world even more.

Though, he would have to be very careful about using magic it seems. Going dry in the middle of a fight and passing out would probably spell a death sentence in most cases.

[STR: The total force the user's body can exert without damaging itself.]

[VIT: The total resistance the user's body can offer against outside and inside threats to it.]

[DEX: The user's ability to handle delicate or meticulous actions.]

[AGI: The total capability of the user to move quickly and easily.]

[INT: The user's capacity to process information and other mental operations.]

He read carefully what each parameter represented and he was relieved nothing was contrary to his expectations. He noticed however that his strength and vitality were a little low in comparison with the others. The old Remy never did bother to improve his body as he believed he had no need for it.

It was an understandable decision coming from someone so dedicated to studying like him. Unfortunately, the present Remy had to suffer the consequences. In this kind of place, what fool would think not having a strong body was important?

[Points: Each level up grants 10 points that the user can freely assign to any of the five attributes.]

[Perks: Permanent characteristics that form alongside the user's development.]

[Skills: The user's special capabilities and abilities. Each skill has a grade. The user may acquire experience to perfect the grade. The user must break through a bottleneck to advance a skill to it's next grade.]

Remy easily understood the next two. As for the [Skills] section he had some difficulty picturing exactly how everything would work but he got the gist of it.

Now that he finished looking at the status screen he dismissed it with a quick mental command and brought his attention to the second part of his system.

'Inventory' he thought. Just as quickly as the status screen has shown up a new screen appeared.

It was far simpler than the previous one. It was a panel with a seemingly endless amount of space within.

This told Remy almost nothing except that he didn't have to worry about running out of room. He looked around himself for a few seconds, searching for something to test the inventory function out.

A small rock was chosen and, after Remy picked it off the ground, he made sure to place his hand further behind the crates in case any phenomenon occurred. He focused and intended for the rock to enter his inventory.

Thankfully, no sound or light was produced as the small rock simply disappeared almost instantly.

Remy glanced at the inventory screen. Indeed, a new image appeared in the top right corner. The moment his eyes moved to the pixelated image of the rock a small text appeared above it.

[Pebble x1]

That showed his system stacked similar items together, something he was glad it did. It made everything much easier to manage in the future.

Another thing that made Remy happy was that the transition was almost instant and silent. He could do a lot of things with this inventory of his and it would prove to be an immense advantage, especially in...acquiring things.

A small smile made its way onto his face. He was already beginning to think like a criminal, perhaps he was sent to the right place after all?

He chuckled at the thought, but his face soon became grim again. His inventory will have to be kept secret. From the old Remy's knowledge he knew that anything bordering on space or time magic was the stuff of legends in this world.

He wouldn't be able to sleep well at night if anyone knew he was capable of something like this. He didn't even know if what the system could do counted as magic, but he was sure not that many people would give a damn about classification.

He certainly didn't.

Remy spent a few more minutes messing around with his system, but there was not much he could do at the moment. With a sight he closed it and turned his eyes to the activity in front of him.

People were still running around and doing whatever jobs they had to do. Remy spent a few minutes observing everyone quietly.

The thing that stood out first was that there were no women. From what he understood, female prisoners were not sent here, but to other production centers in the Empire. It was a natural thing to do. Mining was a rough activity and it would be a waste of good slaves that were more efficiently used elsewhere.

Even if this was a fantasy world and women could reach the same heights of strength as men, the civilian's situation was the same as in his previous world.

The old Remy read quite a few books on the Nest. Its population was a theme often discussed. Basically, if women were sent here it would inevitably form a normal society model and over the years population would naturally increase.

An increase in population meant an increase in demands of goods from the Empire. That was something the officials did not wish. The balance of trade was already extremely delicate and depended on many factors to remain stable.

The Nest could also only house a limited number of prisoners. Sure, at the moment, that limit was extremely far away. A lot of places were still unexplored and unknown. But, what about in another twenty years?

Returning to the people in front of him, Remy could clearly see a class system formed between them.

First were the workers with shabby clothes just like him. They did all the work and were the most numerous.

Next were the people dressed like Vincent. Their light armor was similarly designed and all of them carried at least one weapon. They were directing the workers and doing administrative work.

The last category and the one that had by far the fewest people in it supervised everyone else. Remy counted no more than ten of them. They too wore chain mail, but it was mostly used to cover the gaps between plates of steel. Another difference between them and the second category was that their legs and arms were armored as well.

They also had much more lethal weapons. While the second category had wooden maces or shabby iron swords, the third one wore crossbows, sabers and at least a few daggers.

What all of them except the workers had in common was the color red painted on their armors. This probably meant they officially belonged to this Xander's faction.