The glowing blue box hovered in front of Jane, asking for his input. “What is this?” Jane stared at the box. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought?” He waved his hands through the box in front of him. The box stubbornly remained, mocking him with its continued presence. “I guess it wants me to make a decision.” Jane hesitantly reached out to press Y. As soon as he had decided, the box changed.

  Jane looked at the new glowing box. It’s like a video game. “Status?” He said hesitantly.

  "Thats odd, what's a Riftwalker, am I not human anymore?" Jane focused on his new race.

  "Well, shit." Jane stared at the words in the bright blue box. You can never go back. He focused on them, as if through force of will, he could burn them off of the text box. They remained. "I guess I don't have to worry about getting those hydronics lines done." Jane joked, sighing deeply into his hand. "I guess I don't have to worry about paying rent either, or finding a suit for Greg's wedding." Tears welled in his eyes. "I guess I won't have to call my folks anymore." Jane's hand went slack, dropping his phone onto the hard concrete, its small LED wildly illuminating the twisted masses of pipes forming the walls around him. Jane looked down with a start, grabbing his phone, and then looking around at the copper walls of his new world, at the darkness seeping through the spaces between the piping.

  "I don't have time to process this." He spoke numbly, while wiping his eyes. "I don't know where I am. I don't have food, and I only have a single half liter bottle of water in my tool bag." He thought back to his time in Scouts. Three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food. Death. "I might not be able to make it back, but I'm not going to die here." What do I know about my present situation? "This new world is kind of like a video game. I've got this, I wasted a lot of my life playing video games, I can do this." Don't think about how you neglected your family, what else do you know? "This place is very dark, and very hot." navigation will be difficult, water is a high priority, what tools do I have. "I have my toolbag, and whatever weird skills this system can give me." I'd better finish looking at my status."Do I at least get a good trait in return for being exiled from my home?"

  "Lucky me, I survived the crossing. Where do I get the t-shirt?"

  "At least there won't be a language barrier. What does my class give me?"

  "Huh, I always knew plumbers were the best trade."

  "Oh boy, it's a skill that reminds me of what I learned in onboarding."

  "Nice. Caveman have rock, rock go smash. Rock smash better now."

  "Huh, I'd better save these."

  "What kind of wannabe Confucius writes these things? Oh well, what skills can I get?"

  Jane looked over his options, quickly deciding on Water sense and Toughness. Water sense would help solve his immediate problem of needing water, and Toughness would immediately make him more survivable, possibly even allowing him to go a little longer without food or water. Jury rigging would be nice if he had to do a lot of building in his current situation, but he didn't, and it would only be useful as long as he didn't have the materials to do things the right way. Magic focus, Mana sight, and Phase step all seemed like they would be really cool, but he didn't see an immediate use for them, especially with the vague descriptions given to the first two. Time would tell if he made the right choices.

  Jane looked at his new status sheet

  Jane had decided not to allocate his stat points until at least level 15, mainly because he didn't know what they did, but also because he was more than a little curious what the level 15 achievement would be. This really is like a video game. Jane thought to himself, before closing his status.

  If this is like a video game, and I’m in a dungeon. Jane frowned. Monsters. I’d better find something to fight with. Jane lifted his hand to dismiss the stat block. The menu disappeared as soon as he decided he didn’t want it in front of him. Then he crouched down, digging through his tool bags. What I wouldn’t give for one of my pistols. He found what he was looking for, his pipe wrenches. Now do I want the 14 or 18 inch wrench. He mulled it over. The shorter wrench would be more maneuverable, but it was also lighter, so it wouldn’t hit as hard. Maybe I could- “examine?”

  “Like I thought, the bigger one does more damage.” He said, dismissing the stat block. He grabbed the 18-inch pipe wrench, thought for a moment, and also took his flashlight, level, tape measure, and pliers. It just feels wrong to not have my usual tools. The rest of the tools he left in a corner of the room along with his torch rig. I guess this is home base for now.

  Make that officially home base I guess?

  Jane took a moment to think, then named his new home

  “Perfect.” Jane cracked his neck. “Now, let's go meet the neighbors."