“I often wonder if I would have turned out differently if I did not have my Core Skill. I know the mere suggestion could ignite a dozen different philosophical debates, but please do try to restrain yourselves. You should know by now I get ponderous when I’m drunk.”

  ~Unknown

  The System screen updated without fanfare or pageantry. There were no explanations. There were no insights. What was System Advancement? Who knows. What separates a Core Skill from a regular Skill? No idea. All I got was a poorly explained instruction and an oddly worded warning, the latter of which was both vindicating, terrifying and - frankly - perplexing.

  Had I given in to my desires for sleep, I would have awoken with a randomly assigned Skill and been forced to surrender what felt like the only real advantage I was going to get given my unique circumstances. Presumably, this was how it worked for every other 6-month old baby which made the inclusion of such a short timer confusing as all fuck.

  Why even bother including a timer if- No. Moron. Focus. Three minutes! Fuck!

  Steroid-guzzling panic bulldozed over my exhaustion, returning me to a semblance of clarity as I watched the first seconds tick down, forever lost. Fortunately, pondering the syntax of the System screen wasn’t at all helpful to my new predicament. Hooray for stress-induced sarcasm.

  Timer! Pause! Please!? Fuck! It didn’t work. Precious seconds, gone. I had plans, I really did. I would poke and prod at the System, taking my time to devise the perfect Core Skill choice. I thought I’d have time, but the cautious approach was no longer a viable option. There wasn’t even a list of options presented to me, which would have helped reduce the wave of choice paralysis I felt loom over me.

  Keeping the System window open wouldn’t ease my nerves. Even so, I dared not dismiss it. I needed to prioritize my time and work through as many options as I could.

  Deep breaths. You can do this. Deep breaths. You can do this, I repeated the mantra myself a few times in an effort to calm down. First, the long shot.

  More than anything else, I wanted to return home. Without a list of Skills to choose from, I could only assume I had to ask for one, so I did.

  I want a Skill that will take me back to Earth. I pictured the planet as I remembered it from satellite images. From so far away, it looked like a blue and green marble. No, not just to Earth - to her. I mentally zoomed in, rushing my mind’s eye through the atmosphere and amongst the clouds. I moved so fast that the details blurred until everything came into sharp focus. I was back in my apartment. I was back to my old self. I was back with my fiancée, pulling her into a fierce hug and telling her a million times over how much I loved her. I’d said it so much before, but especially now it never felt like I said it enough.

  That is where I am meant to be, I begged the System. That is what I want. Is that a Skill? For a long moment, there was no response. I watched the counter tick down another second.

  … Please. My bloodshots eyes snapped open, illuminated by the light of a new System screen that only I could see.

  I wanted to accept the Skill. I wanted so badly to accept the Skill. Despite the warning that should have immediately condemned it as an option, I almost said yes. I asked what the prerequisite Skills were. No response.

  I considered taking the Skill so that I might share its secrets with someone else. It was the desperate logic of a grieving man, but I still had to entertain the possibility. It was a waste of time I didn’t have, but I had to let myself consider the Unnamed Skill as an option. Except…

  There was no way of knowing if Skills could be taught or passed on, especially when they were functionally useless in the hands of the teacher.

  Even if I could, why would anyone believe my story and want to help me? There was no realistic scenario in which ranting about ‘traveling to another world’ would earn me anything but contempt or perhaps pity. That was assuming I could find anyone with the Skill prerequisites to begin with. Can I really risk everything on such a long shot?

  The answer was no. I reread the first System notification. The Core Skill I chose would be the foundation of my Advancement within the System. If I were to bet everything on an unusable Skill and lost, it would cripple any future attempts. I’d be stuck forever. It was like a knife wound to the heart. I felt so close to a solution, and yet so infinitely far away.

  I was also wasting time. I mentally declined the Unnamed Skill, causing its window to vanish. It was gone, but not forgotten. The Skill was possible. All I had to do was Advance until I uncovered its secrets, but that was a problem for later.

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  A Skill to traverse time and space or both was theoretically possible. It was either a product of magic or science so advanced it might as well be magic.

  Is ‘Magic’ a Skill?

  Well, shit, I thought, but I wasn’t done yet. It might have been a language issue. Imagining Earth helped before, so I tried something similar. When I thought of magic, a traditional wizard came to mind. I imagined an old man with a bushy beard and conical hat. He was reading through magical tomes and reciting words of power to bend the world to his-

  As much as I wanted to dwell on the possibilities of magic, I quickly dismissed the Skill and bookmarked it for later in life. Magic had prerequisites. I lacked the context - and more importantly, the time - necessary to figure out what they were. I also had no idea exactly what Spellscript was so it made for a poor frame of reference.

  Something physical then, I decided. I imagined myself fighting and drew on half-remembered memories of action movies to inject the scene with an outlandish display of martial prowess. I was punching, kicking and dishing out the occasional headbutt to a host of phantom opponents.

  I found it interesting that unarmed combat fell under the umbrella of a Weapons Skill, but Spellscript didn’t have a similar connection to a broader ‘Magic’ Skill. I wasn’t sure if that was at all significant, but I noted it all the same. Perhaps more importantly, it meant Skills could be specialized.

  I took an opportunity to quickly test the limits, running through a rapid gambit of superficially conjured and summarily dismissed offers for Core Skills. Imagining an endless variety of fighting styles and equipment granted Weapons [All], while fighting unarmed but exclusively with my fists granted Weapons [Punch]. I spent a handful of seconds on the exercise, reaching for increasingly absurd Skills, until a familiar screen stopped me in my tracks.

  From my experiments I was able to draw several hastily constructed conclusions. Evidently, the System believed that becoming well versed in literally all forms of weaponry would be more attainable than learning Spellscript or returning home. It was also able to conceive of a fucking name for certain Skills it didn’t already have a record for, but the Unnamed Skill was beyond its capacity in that regard. It was not an encouraging revelation.

  I still didn’t know if choosing a Skill would have magically imbued me with knowledge, or if there were any benefits in taking a more specifically worded Skill. I checked the timer.

  I’d gained some insights about The System and the herculean task before me, but still wasn’t sure what Core Skill to select for myself. I had to refocus. What was my goal? My goal was the Unnamed Skill, something so beyond my grasp that the System believed I’d have better odds of gaining universal weapon proficiency than comprehending it. Magic. Science. I was getting ahead of myself. The Skill was possible, and I had told myself that was enough, but I had to be realistic.

  I wasn’t anything special.

  Being reincarnated didn’t change that. Something special happened to me, but I was still the guy who barely passed his junior year of physics. I was the guy with a blackbelt in procrastination who’d get hyper fixated on a hobby only to abandon it a few weeks later. Objectively, there was no realistic way that I was the guy who would unlock the secrets of time and space. I needed something to give me an edge.

  Time was running out, so in my panic I compared myself to fictional protagonists. Desperation had driven the more sensible parts of mind into submission, otherwise I might have reflected on the folly of seeking life advice from fantasy novels. We work with what we have, however, so I continued unabated. What did they have that I didn’t? What made them heroes capable of overcoming insurmountable odds? The first thing to come to mind was luck, reality-defying, author-bestowed luck.

  Fuck it. I prodded at my System Screen and asked for luck.

  Being lucky didn’t seem like it should be a Skill. However, I had no choice but to accept the System’s word on the matter. It meant Skills could be even more esoteric than I initially anticipated.

  I considered taking Luck as my Core Skill. Visions of casinos and unlikely chance encounters briefly tickled the borders of my imagination, but I wasn’t ready to commit to them. I could definitely see the appeal, but unless the Skill immediately infused me with reality defying good fortune it would be a long while before I could reliably depend upon it. The window remained open alongside the timer, now entering its final minute. If I couldn’t decide on something less uncertain, I’d - appropriately - take the gamble.

  What else is there? Some ideas held more merit than others, and I tried not to dwell on them if my immediate reaction was to dismiss them. I doubted I could find a Skill that conjured a legendary mentor or suddenly made me the prophesied ‘chosen one’.

  The power of friendship? That might work. Even if I couldn’t learn the Skill myself, perhaps I could convince a person, or persons to do so on my behalf. I’d just need to find someone capable of doing so and convince them to devote their lives to me for little-to-no compensation. Simply entertaining the thought felt slimy, but it was enough for The System.

  Yeah. No. I dismissed the offer. I wanted to get home, but not like that. It was a terrifying Skill. Were there people who could sway the minds of humans like Tina commanded her dogs? I’d have to look into ways to protect myself from such a-

  FUCK! Later! Core Skill! Choose! Now! I was almost out of time. The irritation I felt at my wandering mind brought a final Skill to its attention. It was the thing that made heroes rise above the masses. It was what separated the exceptional from the mundane. It even went beyond the realms of fiction.

  Some of the greatest men and women of history achieved success after countless failures, setbacks, and hardship. It was their ability to keep trying, no matter the difficulty or delay, that set them apart. It was something I knew I lacked in my first life. It was something I craved for my second.

  There it was. Perseverance. Getting home was going to be arduous at best. My track record suggested I didn’t have what it took to endure the challenges ahead. I needed perseverance if I was going to do this. I needed perseverance if I was ever going to hold my fiancée again.

  All I had to do was say yes… so I did.

  Update | 27/02/2024: So after almost a month I have noticed that chapter 6 is somewhat of a divisive chapter. There are those of you who appreciate my take on panicked overthinking potentially resulting in overlooked options, and those who do not. I largely get the impression it is an issue of conveyance as opposed to content, so will be revisiting this chapter carefully when I eventually edit the first book. I will not be changing the overall series of events, but possibly adjusting how overt I am in the discussion of certain aspects. I continue to appreciate feedback and, while I cannot promise I will always incorporate all of it, I do read it and make note of it. For further insights:

  Original Chapter 6

  “I often wonder if I would have turned out differently if I did not have my Core Skill. I know the mere suggestion could ignite a dozen different philosophical debates, but please do try to restrain yourselves. You should know by now I get ponderous when I’m drunk.”

  ~Unknown

  That was it. There was no additional information regarding what advancement in the System pertained. There was no list of available Core Skills. There wasn’t even an example of what a skill was. It was just a poorly explained instruction and a warning. The latter was both vindicating and terrifying.

  On one hand, forcing myself to stay awake was the right choice. If I slept through the night I would have failed to choose a Core Skill and awoke with one assigned for me, presumably like every normal six month old baby. On the other hand…

  I only have 10 minutes?!

  Tiredness was temporarily banished when freshly renewed, steroid guzzling panic gripped me as I watched the seconds tick down. I’d planned to poke and prod at the System before making a decision. I’d planned to learn as much about it as I could while I tried to devise the best possible choice. I thought I’d have time! I lost almost a whole minute trying to frantically decide what my priorities should be. I even tried willing the timer to pause with the same face-scrunching intensity as the first time I willed the System to close all those months ago. It didn’t work.

  Okay. Okay. Deep breaths. Think. Let’s try the long shot first.

  I wanted a way to return home. Since there was no list of Skills I could only assume I had to ask for one. If that didn’t work then… well… maybe I’d get lucky with the randomly assigned Core Skill. I tried thinking of Earth. I pictured it the way I’d seen it in satellite images. I brought to mind the model of the solar system I’d learned about when I was nine. I mentally zoomed in, past the atmosphere and through the clouds, letting the details of my imagination blur until I was back in my apartment, back to my old self, and giving my fiancée a fiercely intense hug. I envisioned myself leaving where I was and returning to where I was meant to be.

  That. I want that. Is that a skill? I mentally begged the System.

  My bloodshot eyes widened. I wasn’t expecting the answer I got.

  I almost said yes. I wanted to say yes. I wanted so badly to say yes. I told myself that even if I couldn’t properly utilize the Skill that maybe I could somehow teach it to someone else- someone with the prerequisite Skills, whatever they might be. I tried to ask The System what they were. No response.

  I wanted to say yes… but I couldn’t.

  There’s no guarantee that I would be able to teach the skill to someone else without being able to use it myself. Even if I could, why would anyone believe what I have to say about it or want to invest in helping me? Is there even anyone else out there with the skill prerequisites? Can I really risk everything on such a long shot?

  The answer was no. The words from the earlier notification still rang in my mind. A person’s Core Skill was the foundation of their advancement in The System. If I were to bet everything on this unusable skill and lost… I’d be stuck forever. It was like a knife wound to the heart. I felt so close and yet so infinitely far away.

  I was also wasting time. I mentally selected ‘no’ and the Unnamed Skill notification vanished. It was gone, but not forgotten. The Skill was possible and that’s all I needed to know. The problem was I had no idea what other types of Skill were possible.

  What should I use as a baseline?

  I conceived a long list of possible Skills to investigate during my countless hours of bored ceiling gazing. That list needed to be culled, and fast, so I decided on something physical and easily observable. I imagined myself fighting and drew on half-remembered memories of action movies to inject the scene with an outlandish and probably unrealistic display of martial prowess. I was punching, kicking and dishing out the occasional headbutt to a host of phantom opponents. The system responded to my unspoken desire.

  There was a Skill for unarmed combat that apparently fell under the broader category of being a weapons Skill. I could work with that, but I needed to see how far it could go. It would be my one chance to do so and could impact what might be the biggest decision of my new life. I declined the skill. When I tried again I thought about fighting with my fists, a sword, a spear, an axe, and every weapon I could conceive. One of my phantom foes was even felled by a pencil through their eye.

  I want a Skill for all weapons. I want Weapons [All], I thought at The System while trying to picture the formatting of the skill based on what I’d seen so far. The System responded even faster that time.

  There wasn’t any mention of skill prerequisites. If I took that skill I would… I still didn’t know what would happen. Would I immediately become an expert with anything I decided to use as a weapon? Would I just have a greater capacity to learn? Either way, it did mean that whatever the unnamed Skill I turned down was, it was apparently more complex than becoming versed in literally all weapons.

  I’m still not happy about it, but I definitely think I made the right call.

  It also meant that Skills could be broad or specialized. I could make some guesses as to what that meant but I had more important things to spend my time on.

  I’ll give myself until the timer hits five minutes to experiment but then I need to hustle. Just how specialized can a Skill get?

  I imagined myself fighting unarmed again, except this time all I did was throw punches.

  All I did was throw punches with my right hand.

  Holy shit, really? Ummm…

  All I did was throw punches with my right hand… while it was raining.

  I was partially relieved to see that no one else had ever been saddled with such an oddly specific Core Skill. Surely a deeper specialization in a Skill had to confer some type of advantage. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would bother with them otherwise. That wasn’t my problem though, my problem was that my second theoretically possible skill had a name.

  Why the fuck aren’t you also unnamed?

  It was a sign of my barely restrained exhaustion at the time that I didn’t see a problem with harassing a hypothetical Skill. There were a few possibilities that came to mind as to why that first Skill was unnamed and I didn’t like any of them. I cursed myself for getting distracted.

  Focus. Focus. Focus!

  I needed a Skill that would set me on the path to get back to Earth. My immediate thought was to see if Skills for magic were available. Either I needed to transcend time or transcend alternate dimensions… or both. Surely the unnamed Skill had to be magical in nature.

  Unless it’s an application of crazily advanced science.

  A sick feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. Whatever Skill I needed was so advanced The System stated that - as I was - I’d be more capable of gaining universal weapon proficiency than being able to comprehend it. Magic. Science. Both. I was getting ahead of myself. The skill was possible. I told myself that knowledge was enough… but I had to be realistic.

  I wasn’t anything special.

  Being reincarnated didn’t change that, not really. Something special happened to me, which was different. I was a guy who barely passed his junior year of physics. I was a guy with a blackbelt in procrastination who’d get hyper fixated on a hobby and then abandon it a few weeks later. How could I honestly try to convince myself I was a guy who would unlock the mysteries of time and space? I couldn’t. I needed something to give me an edge.

  I compared myself to fictional protagonists. It wasn’t wise. I knew it was a dumb idea to seek advice from fantasy novels, but it was all I had. I was desperate. What did they have that I didn’t? What made them heroes? The first thing to come to mind was luck. Unbelievable, reality-defying, author-bestowed luck.

  Fuck it.

  I prodded at my System Screen and asked for luck.

  Well. Fuck. If being lucky is a Skill then this thing must be able to get pretty esoteric.

  I wasted precious seconds on the distracting thought. I considered taking Luck as my Core Skill. Visions of casinos and unlikely chance encounters briefly tickled the borders of my imagination. I was quick to dismiss them. The Luck Skill would probably be useful, but I doubted it’d infuse me with absurd levels of good fortune straight away. It might have, but I needed something less uncertain.

  What else is there? McGuffin? No. Legendary mentor? No. I also doubt being secretly half-dragon or some other Chosen One shit is a Skill.

  I didn’t even bother checking with The System to see if it was. I probably should have, but I was running out of time. I was frustrated by the situation and getting impatient.

  The power of friendship? That might work.

  Even if I couldn’t learn the Skill myself, having someone else send me home could work. I’d just need to find someone capable of doing it and convince them to devote their lives to helping me. It felt wrong even as I thought it, but it was enough for The System.

  Yeah. No.

  I wanted to get home, but not like that. It didn’t stop me from acknowledging how powerful - how terrifying - a Skill like that could be. Especially if Tina’s Skill with dogs was any indicator to how its advancement might go. I’d have to look into ways to protect myself.

  FUCK FUCK FUCK. Later! Core Skill! Choose! Now!

  One last thing came to mind. I wished it had been the first thing. It was the thing that made heroes stand out from the masses. It was what separated the exceptional from the mundane. It went beyond the realms of fiction. Some of the greatest men and women of history achieved success after countless failures, setbacks, and hardship. It was their ability to keep trying, no matter the difficulty or delay, that set them apart. It was something I knew I lacked, at least in my first life, and it was something that maybe, just maybe, The System might be able to give me in my new one. So I asked.

  There it was. Perseverance. Getting home was going to be arduous at best and my track record suggested I didn’t have what it took to do it. I needed perseverance if I was going to do this. I needed perseverance if I was ever going to hold my fiancée again.

  All I had to do was say yes.

  So I did.