Intro: Eric Raine

  If there was one thing that Eric Raine was not expecting to get told to break, kill, or disable, it was a demon queen. Not that he couldn’t, it would probably be relatively easy actually, but it was unexpected. But here he was, floating in a navy blue, vaguely sparkly void, in front of what appeared and claimed to be a goddess.

  “That’s… strange,” She said.

  “Et toi.”

  She was silent for a second, seemingly contemplating what to say next. Eric let her think.

  “Right. So, you’re older than expected, but we can work with that. Let’s get’cha up to speed.”

  She then launched into a complicated and rather long winded mission brief. It didn’t matter much what she actually said, Eric got the gist pretty fast.

  “Is this speech designed for teens or somethin’? Give me my target and my resources, and get me out there.”

  “... you’re not scared? Confused? Maybe a little shocked?”

  “Marines tend to lose those emotions after the first few days deployed.”

  “Right then. Kill the Demon queen to save the world, you’ll get an OP sword skill and a party of allies.”

  “OP?”

  “You don’t know what OP means? You’re supposed to be the best suited in the Multiverse for this job. How do you not know such a basic term?”

  “I’ve heard my sons use it once or twice, but only in reference to games.”

  “You never once wondered what it meant?”

  “I don’t play a lot of games. It never really mattered.”

  “Overpowered. You dominate the battlefield.”

  “Really? I don’t think I’d dominate with a sword. I’ve never used one, I’d have to learn an entirely new weapon. Could I have a custom skill instead?”

  “It'll be way less powerful than the sword one.”

  “What does the sword one do?”

  “It guides your actions and makes your strikes more powerful.”

  “So its primary function is to help me learn to use the sword faster?”

  “Yes…”

  “I’ll go with the custom skill.”

  “Alright, but you have to make it balanced or the system will have a fit.”

  “Do non-sentient beings have souls?”

  “Yes.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “And are those equal to sentient souls?”

  “No, sentients are about 100 times as powerful.”

  “Could I make a skill that makes skills?”

  “Yes.”

  She gestured with her hands for a bit, and then a screen was floating before Eric’s eyes. It read:

  “Is this good?”

  “Yep.”

  “Cool. Off you pop!”

  ...

  Eric woke up on an altar, surrounded by priests, guards, and a few others. The most notable people, though, were what looked like the King, Queen, and Princess. Strangely, the princess was the first to speak.

  “Ah, Hero, you’re finally awake.”

  She seemed to be waiting nervously for him to respond. Eric didn’t have anything to say, so he waited for her to continue.

  “Uh,” She started, clearly out of her depth. “Do you have any questions?”

  “The “goddess” I was talking to showed me a screen. Can I see it again?”

  “Just think “System Status.” A clearly rehearsed response.

  Eric was then presented with this:

  “Can I share my status? I don't know what most of this means.”

  “Sure, but you’d get a better explanation from the adventurer’s guild beginner adventurer pamphlet.”

  “Copy. Now, What do I have, where is my target?”

  “Portal fatigue, most likely. It would be better for all of us if we discussed this in the morning.”

  Eric didn’t feel fatigued at all, but the princess and the priests clearly did, so he went to his room anyway. It was quite a nice room they gave him, they were clearly in a palace, and he had all the amenities he could wish for. He decided he would try out this Recursive Skillbind before he went to bed.

  He first tried thinking the skill, which didn’t seem to do much. He felt something happening, which was a start, but it didn’t complete. He then tried reaching out to the system, which helped. However, the system wanted something.

  You want souls? I don't have any yet, but I think the skill I’m envisioning should be free.

  Why?

  Because I know the thing I’m trying to summon like I know my wife.

  Nothing is free.

  But this should at least be cheap.

  Hmmm… I could be convinced. What are you offering?

  The “Fot” stat is fortune, yes?

  Indeed. You are more clever than your stats demonstrate.

  Comes with being a Marine Captain. I might not be clever overall, but battle tactics are my specialty, and that includes negotiation.

  Interesting.

  It is. Point is, though, would a point of Fot be enough for this skill?

  Three.

  One-point-five.

  Two and a half.

  Two.

  Deal.

  Immediately, Eric got the familiar feeling of his luck running out. It was a feeling entirely unique, like intense fear mixed with gut-wrenching sadness. Eric then heard a *Ping*. First, an intriguing notification came through:

  Then, his status, which now read:

  Bartering with the system was strange. Rather than getting direct replies, Eric received feelings and notions of what the system wanted. It was all a bit mumbo jumbo to him, but what could he do? A few minutes later, Eric drifted to sleep.