Chapter 2- This is how it works?

Seth had a freak out for about 10 minutes. He was panting hard after going over everything and yelling out his confusion, anger, and disbelief at this situation.

But he was also excited to see where this went. He wasn't isekaied. Be was still in his body, and he could feel he was dreaming.

But it was a lucid dream that made him feel like he was really moving.

Looking at the message, then the items. He made a decision. He walked up and checked the weapons.

After a long deliberation he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the sword. A classic choice. Then the message read, Choose the type of sword mastery you want.

Then he sees the classic longsword, arming sword, bastard sword, etc.

He scrolled through the list until he found, Katana mastery.

He grins and chooses that skill as the sword went from a basic straight blade, and morphed into a curved Katana. He swung it around a few times to get the feel for it as the pedestals faded.

Then the message read, Survive and choose your reward.

Seth perks up and readies his blade.

In front of him stands a goblin. It wields a dagger, a loincloth, and a wooden shield. That looks more like a pot lid given its size.

Seth looks at it and shrugs, Must be a tutorial mode.

He thought. He readies his blade and rushed the goblin.

It raises its shield but Seth dashes to the side and slices it's support leg off at the join of its knee. The goblin screams in pain while falling to its left side. Missing half of your left leg will do that to anyone.

Seth backs up as the goblins screams. But not beacause of its screams. But because of the blood on his blade. It felt real, the few drops on his cheek felt warm.

Seth realized that this was real. It wasn't just a lucid dream. If he dies here, he would die again in the real world.

He hardens his resolve and his will as he gripped the katana harder to prepare for a killing blow.

He rushes up as the goblin is trying to stop the bleeding and cuts it's head right off.

It slumps to the ground and disappears into a cloud of ethereal smoke. Seth huffs and shakes a bit from the experience but nods to himself in satisfaction.

Suddenly he gets a message again.

Dream warrior has passed the evaluation. Tutorial section is done. Now player can choose the mode for future dreams.

Seth looks it over and asks, "Modes? As in difficulty? Or leveling up mode?"

Both.

Seth hums in thought and goes, "Very well. Show me!"

The system seems to accept the response and shows him the modes for leveling.

It shows, Hunter world leveling. Focused on stat growth and skill growth.

Fantasy world. Levels and skills rule the stat potential.

Modern day. Equipment rules this land. Nukes rule all.

Seth hums and looks between them all before choosing hunter.

He would rather build up his stats and enjoy growing skills than relying on levels or pure equipment.

After all remembering how an old 65 year old self took out a 20 something with a knife shows you can't rely on only equipment to get you through.

Suddenly 5 modes show up. And Seth is eyeing them with a critical game makers mind.

Beginner- low risk, low reward

Intermediate- some risk, but rewards are slightly better.

Advanced- bigger risks, rewards are above average

Elite- large risk, skill tester, rewards are suitable for the challenge

Master- legendary feats are asked of the player, and one must meet them to grab their rewards. The rewards reflect the task difficulty and affect reality much better than the others.

Seth salivates at both Elite and Master. But it's the full description of Master level that makes him eager to try it.

Seth goes, "Master mode!"

The system seems to update and go, Master mode set. Stat screen generated. Good luck dream warrior. And may your life be better than the last.

Seth nods before snapping back and going, "Wait! You know who-?!"

Before he wakes up in bed. His mind spins as he thinks hard on the system knowing the ones who regressed him. But decides after nearly an hour that it doesn't matter.

He can figure it out as it comes his way and he gains some clues.

He gets up, stretches and sees his status page.

Seth Silverfang

STR: 1.06

REF: 0.87

STA: 1.01

END: 0.92

MANA: 0.09

SKILLS:

Katana mastery: lvl 1 beginner exp: 3%. Gain +1% in damage done by katana attacks.

Seth looks and sighs, "Of course they are pretty low. I only got to exercise and train myself so much in college and my company job. I'm lucky they offered weekly tai chi classes or I would have had atrophied muscles from all that sitting around I did."

He checks the time and sees it is only 9am. He has almost 5 hours before he is off to help with the farming needs.

So he gets to his morning warm ups.

Some pushups, sit ups, lunges, jumping jacks, accordion crunches, and tricep dips.

He manages to do 20 of each with some light jogging in place while some exercise music plays. And he then grabs an old wooden training sword he brought with him from his martial arts training classes. Completing a solid 45 minute exercise circuit from warm up to cold down stretches.

And he rests while drinking some water before noticing the system says, Due to some decent exercise stats have increased some.

Seth sits up straight and looks over his stats.

Seth Silverfang

STR: 1.06 -> 1.10

REF: 0.87 -> 0.92

STA: 1.01 -> 1.05

END: 0.92 -> 0.94

MANA: 0.09 -> 0.10

Seth huffs to himself, "Well. I can manage to gain some stats in the real world huh? So this is what the system meant by stat screen unlocked. Let's hope o can gain something to get better equipment later. Cause a leather outfit with a decent beginner katana? Doesn't last long on expert modes."

He thinks it through as he plans out his growth in exercises to improve his stats further.

After making an exercise plan and eating a great breakfast he heads outside to the garden to check on the plants.

Someone has been by, maybe one of the neighbors and the garden is doing well. Some tomatoes, some corn, some leeks, potatoes, peanuts, even some green onions are all growing in the garden.

But Seth wants to grow more vegetables so he can focus on only meat and grain needs from the local store and reduce his costs as much as possible.

So he gets cracking. Using his lessons as a kid growing up in this area he takes care of the plants, and grabs the seeds for carrots, beets, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, green beans, and peas. He was tempted to grab more but this would be a solid mixture of plants to grow for the time being.

He heads home and plants them in the garden after asking for help from the neighbors to expand it with their children's help.

The kids were more than happy to help out as they wanted to learn more about planting and farming.

Soon the garden was expanded and Seth saw the time was about ready for him to head off and help with the heavy farm work.

Seth was grinning to himself as he jogged there in a straw hat and towel with his workers outfit on of leather pants, galoshes, and a tank top.

He was ready to push his stats to the next level!