Beyond Average Isekai LitRPG Prologue (Patreon)

“So I’m dead?” Adam asked as he stared at the god ahead of him. The god’s skin was platinum with veins of gold that peeked through the sleeve of his shirt as, for some reason, the god was also wearing a full tweed suit, a flat cap, and a moustache of silver that was curled upwards on each side.

‘What a geezer,’ Adam thought.

The god raised his brow, crossing his arms together.

‘Ah… you can hear my thoughts, can’t you?’

The god nodded and Adam sucked in some air through his teeth. ‘That’s awkward…’ His mind began to flash with all sorts of random imagery, some of them risque, others more embarrassing as he thought of the embarrassing moments he didn’t want the god to know about.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” the god said, his voice would put even the greatest singers to shame with how deep and rhythmic it was. “I know all about you.”

Adam cringed visibly, trying to keep his tongue into his mouth. ‘Gross…’

The god raised his eyebrow and Adam quickly cleared his throat. “So then… what’s with all this then? Are you going to offer me a chance at reincarnation and give me some cheats to get on with my life easier?”

“Yes,” the god stated simply, motioning with a hand to reveal a pair of tea cups. 

Each cup was more like a chalice with a handle, which seemed funny enough to Adam. They were made of gold, though he doubted it was as simple as typical gold, it was probably some god-gold or some such, and it had a layer of gems around the bottom of it, where as the top rip was smooth like a baby’s bottom. Within the cup was he familiar creamy brown liquid that Adam was used to. 

Adam looked down at it, gave it a sniff and then sipped it. It was Goldilocks-warm, not too cold or too hot, just right, as well as Goldilocks-sweet. Adam looked up at the god with narrowed eyes. 

“Is this tips with a splash of milk and a full spoon of sugar?” Adam asked.

The god bowed his head, as though he was impressed with himself, and he should be for this was the perfect cuppa, at least to Adam. Of course there were other types of tea that were good, but they weren’t this good. 

Suddenly Adam was far more cheerful as he continued to sip on the tea, which did not seem to change temperature with the passing moments. The silence remained clung to the air, like the smell of fish after one left it cooking without a lid in a pan. Eventually Adam finished his tea, now hankering for more but with a few biscuits, which appeared moments later. Shortbread biscuits, his favourite! Those northerners sure knew how to make a great and simple biscuit, one could easily make it with simply three ingredients. He had done so once, but the travesty he had made was quickly buried and erased from his mind, and so when it surfaced he merely denied that such a thing could have ever occurred, as was the way of his people.

“Thank you kindly for the tea and biscuits, mister…”

“You are most welcome,” the god said. “You may call me,” the god then said something in a language Adam could not understand for it sounded like a harmony of bells, jingles, and a violin all at once. 

Adam stared at the god for a long moment, his brows raised, waiting for the god to continue.

“Just Belle will do,” the god finally said.

“Thank you.” Adam raised his tea cup to Belle, who raised his own.

“Would that be a suitable enough apology?” Belle asked.

Adam thought for a moment. It sounded fine enough, though he wanted a little more. See, Adam was just a typical British guy, that is to say better than anyone that wasn’t English, for of course when someone said British they actually meant English rather than Scottish or Welsh for that would not do. He was born and raised in the most average of families, with a brother and a sister, going to the average school where he received average grades, and then went on to work for an average company. He was fairly average looking as well, neither too tall or too short, though of course being under an even six foot meant he was short to everyone really, but that’s neither here nor there, and he had hair that was neither too long or too short. 

His life had been entirely average, that was to say it was rather boring. 

“Well, I would like such a thing. However, I would like it if we could discuss such a thing, if you aren’t so busy,” he said as he dipped his shortbread into the tea and then took a bite of it. It was softer now due to the tea, and it crumbled easily between the chomping. It was sweet, sweeter than the tea at least, which was exactly how he enjoyed it. The tea had brought out the sugars within the biscuit and the tea itself gave it a new flavour. He melted into the taste of the biscuit, in the same way he used to melt chocolate into his tea when he was younger before he had personally found the taste to be offencive. He no longer allowed such heresy after.

“What is it that you wish to discuss, mister Smith?” the god asked, sipping on his own tea.

“I suppose you are familiar with the concept of an isekai?” Adam asked. The god nodded and so he continued, “What about the LitRPG genre?” The god nodded again. Now Adam went into thought, allowing them all to drift and expand, coming together every so often before cracking the thoughts and then allowing the tiny shards to splinter away. It was like he was a sculptor and his thoughts were marble. He’d crack a piece here and then crack a piece there, each time it took shape, though to an outsider they may not understand what was happening. He assumed the god was following along his train of thought as he thought of the games he had played, video games and tabletop games, as well as the various fantasy novels he had read. Belle did not seem to react, but Adam continued to formulate his thoughts as he sipped at his tea until it was all gone.

“I would like the world to be a LitRPG. It doesn’t have to be a typical fantasy world, but elements of familiarity would be nice. I would also like to have stats and such, and be reborn in a way I can start to adventuring and exploring essentially right away, but with little knowledge, if that pleases you.”

Belle nodded his head. “I can do that.” Belle raised a hand and then summoned four dice, each with six sides that had been formed in such a way they were perfectly balanced, or at least he assumed so because each hole was of different shape and size than the others and when Adam held onto them, they felt so easy in the hand. 

“I get to roll?” Adam asked with delight. 

“If it pleases you,” Belle said.

Adam shook the dice in such a way that was perhaps a little lewd to others before rolling the onto the table. They made a satisfying rattle, as though a tiny symphony. He watched as each dice stopped.

6

2

1

3

Adam had been overjoyed with the six, but then as the rest rolled it came to a total of…

“Eleven,” Belle said. “Perfectly average.”

Adam’s eyes flashed with a great glare, ready to toss his empty chalice at the god, though it had filled up once again as he thought of it. He sipped on it and picked up the dice before he rolled once more. 

6

5

3

1

Adam smiled. A much better roll and it was-

“Higher than average,” Bell said. “Well done.”

“Thank you,” Adam said through grated teeth. 

6

2 

1

4

“Twelve,” Adam said. “That gives at least a little bonus, right?”

Belle nodded his head.

1

3

4

4

“Another eleven,” Belle said in a perfectly neutral tone that was definitely meant to poke fun at Adam.

Adam ignored him and rolled again.

2

6

4

6

“Is that a sixteen?” Adam asked Belle, who bowed his head with a smile on his face. Adam inhaled deeply and then he thrust out his fists. “Fuar yeah! Take that, you hurmphn piece ah-” he picked up the dice and then rolled them once more for the final time.

1

4

2

3

He froze when he counted each number. He leaned back in his chair and then sipped on his tea, which was sweeter now in order to balance out his saltiness. He bit into a shortbread raw and then chewed as though he was trying to destroy rocks within his maw. 

“Nine,” Bell said.

“I know.” Adam continued to eat his shortbread before sipping his tea. This did change his plans some-what. He was locked into a single class with such stats, and he wouldn’t be able to explore as much as he wanted to. No, that sounded too boring!

Belle remained silent, watching him. 

9, 11, 11, 12, 14, 16

It wasn’t the best statline in the world, in fact it was probably slightly below average for such a rolling method. How did he manage that when he was meant to be so average? If that was the case, then he wanted an above average experience within this new world.

“Since these rolls were rather poor, I would then like to be able to pick and choose whichever class I would like, as long as I gain enough experience for such a thing. I don’t want to be bound by such limits, and each class will be separate in the case of levelling and I want to be able to level into each class to the maximum amount, and if there are bonuses that conflict, then I’d like to choose which bonus I would like to be active in that moment. Also, I’d like a boost for experience. Nothing too major, something like double experience.”

Belle bowed his head slowly, seemingly fine with such an agreement for now.

“Is there a sheet where I can begin with writing my character?”

Belle motioned with a hand to the table, where there was already a fairly simple sheet of paper with some of the mandatory headings for Adam to write under. Adam began to write them in. 

“What kind of race bonus do I have?”

Belle pointed towards another sheet that had definitely not been there before where it showed the bonus for a human. 

“Could I pick another race?” Adam asked, raising a brow. 

“Which race would you like?”

Adam thought about it. He should really be picking human, but… half-elf sounded really cool.Though then again, most people picked that race. He didn’t want to pick out anything too out there. Though an elf would be cool too. No, a half-elf. Half-elves had great bonuses usually. The sheet expanded into many different pages, all about the various races and subraces. 

There were elves, of course, and other more common fantasy races like dwarves, orcs, minotaurs, and- minotaurs?

Adam thought about such a thing long and hard. 

‘A minotaur…’

That would not be average by any means of the imagination. 

Yet when he looked at the human race he saw something much different than he had expected. Each human gained an additional two points to place wherever they wanted, but also they gained more skills, a tool they could use, as well as two additional traits. 

These traits were wonderful. The ability to swim quickly, as well as climbing, increased movement speed, a temporary boost once per day, the ability to carry more, damage reduction, to convey intentions to animals, as well as some magical effects as well.

He wasn’t entirely certain which two he wanted to pick. The ability to carry more would certainly help, though he could always carry lightly for a while, and then eventually he would buy something that could allow him to carry more. He leaned towards the abilities called Overdrive and Innate power, for both seemed to be quite useful. 

Overdrive

You are able to push beyond your limits for a limited period of time. Increase your movement speed by 10 feet and deal an extra 2 points of damage with your melee weapon attacks for 1 minute. This can be used only once per day. 

Innate Power

You have been touched by magic. You gain 1 trick from any spell list. You can pick either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your magic modifier.

Overdrive would be useful in a pickle and the trick would allow him to choose something with range, that way he had most of the bases covered. It was too tempting for him to refuse such abilities, and so he picked the human and then those particular traits.

MIGHT: 16 [+3]

QUICK: 10 [+0]

TOUGH: 14 [+2]

SMART: 11 [+0]

WISE: 12 [+1]

ATTRACT: 12 [+1]

He had been stuck about which two skills he wanted with a minor bonus. Attract seemed to be a good idea for there were a myriad of politicians who had a lack of smarts and yet made up for that with their ability to attract with their personal charisma, and sometimes their looks, whilst others seemed more like goblins that seemed to be able to pretend they were smart and use their force of personalities and great rhetoric to fool the people for their own gain. If Adam was at the end of his wits, he could always create a cult.

He also picked his name, Percival due to how cool the name was, after of course one of the Knights of the Round Table. He couldn’t quite recall Percival’s story, but he did remember it wasn’t the worst, at least he hopes that was the case.

The only thing he really needed to pick was his class. Considering his statistics, he decided to pick Warrior, giving him the ability to use all types of weapons and armours. He continued to fill out his sheet until he was finally done. He picked his skills; athletics, intimidate, insight, persuasion, survival and deception. He assumed that these skills would cover most of his bases. He also picked his trick, Flame Missile, an extremely long ranged flame spell. 

He was also able to several tools too, though he was some-what undecided. He wondered which tools would be best. He was stuck between four, but could only take three. 

Smithing tools to create weapons and armour.

Enchanting tools to enchant various items.

Tinkering tools to tinker with various items, similar to that of enchanting, but not magical.

Alchemist tools which allowed him to create various concoctions and potions he may need.

‘I guess smithing tools would be good so I can create my own weapons however I envision, plus I could always find some cool ore to make weapons with and secretly work on them.’ He imagined finding something akin to mithril and then creating a wonderful blade out of it, a longsword that could rival the likes of Excalibur. Speaking of magical weapons…

‘Then I could enchant those weapons, right armours too, and rings and stuff? That would be pretty damn cool.’ He imagined creating various rings with different effects, and also various wards to help protect him. ‘

‘Alchemist tools so I can make steroids?’ He thought about it long and hard. ‘Potions of healing too… that’s probably something that’s more likely. Steroids though…’

He looked at the items he was allowed to take and then noticed that he had missed a part in his sheet. As a Warrior he received a bonus when using weapons or armour and he had completely skipped passed it. He stared at each ability and then saw Brawler. 

Brawler

Deal 1d6 + Might modifier when you fight unarmed. If you wield neither a weapon or a shield in either hand, you may make an additional attack as a Light Action. 

He looked down at his fists and then back at the paper. He really wanted it, but he could eventually just have a weapon that would come to him whenever he needed it, though he supposed it was a good idea if he was ever in a situation when he was unarmed. 

‘Though if that’s the case, maybe I’m already pretty screwed…’ He thought long and hard about which ability to take. There was another ability which gave him a flat modifier of a boost to his weapon attacks. He supposed that might be better. 

Dueling

Gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls when making melee weapon attacks.

It didn’t seem that great, but a bonus to both attack and damage rolls was pretty great. Not including all the other great abilities that were on offer, yet none spoke to him as much as Dueling.

He also gained the ability to use a Light Action to regain hit point equal to his Warrior level and twice his Tough modifier. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but eventually it would become far more powerful when he gained more levels and buffed up his Tough score. 

He looked up at Belle, who sipped on his tea. Adam did the same, tasting just how it was so perfectly warm. He took another bite of his short bread and then looked down at the equipment he could receive.

He chose from the equipment list carefully, his languages too, taking deep consideration for everything. He then swapped a few things, changing the Smart score with his Wise score, and then changing his knowledge about alchemist tools to tinkering tools and he was fairly certain he was done.

He looked to the god, Belle, and then stared at him long and hard. He wondered if he wanted to change anything, but at the end of everything, he supposed he was done. 

“I think I’m done,” Adam said as he stared up at the god. 

Belle bowed his head. “It was a pleasure to meet you,” he said. 

“You as well,” Adam replied hesitantly.

“I shall wish you the best of luck in your endeavours. Enjoy the world at your leisure. I will place you in a safe enough place, though it will not protect you from all forms of evil, just the major forms.”

Adam looked down at his sheet. He stared at it for a while and then looked back up at Belle. “Thank you,” he said. “You’ll make sure to look after my mother and father, won’t you?”

Belle nodded. “I will.”

“My brother and sister as well?”

“I will.”

“I’m probably asking fairly late, but… why did I die?”

“There was a choice the universe had to make, between you and another.”

“Who?”

“A small child with a weak constitution, but one who would grow up to solve many issues.”

Adam nodded his head and then smiled. “Well, I’m glad then.”

“I knew you would be,” and then Belle finally smiled. 

“Goodbye, Belle.”

“Goodbye, Percival.”

With that, all faded to black.