[Congratulations!]

“Huh?”

Matthew was in the middle of a puddle of blood, the dead body of the wolf he had fought right next to him.

‘Right! My shoulder? And my chest?’ he wondered and hurriedly felt his body.

He felt no pain as he touched his chest and shoulder. The skin was not as smooth as it used to be but there was neither pain nor blood flowing.

‘Wasn’t it supposed to be yellowish, though?’ he tried to remind himself, as he checked the floating window again.

Every player described the System as a set of yellow floating windows with their physical stats and skills, a shop feature and various other things, similar to what could be seen in video games. And yet, here he was, staring at a blue floating window. He sat up, and, after staring at it for a few seconds, it updated.

Ring.

That same ringing sound as right before passing out earlier was heard.

[You have earned a new achievement: Self-made.]

[Achievement: Self-made]
You have fought with nothing but your own weakness and overcome an incredible trial.

- Effect -
Status [Impaired body] removed and manifestation of [System].

‘Huh? So I got a System, but mine is blue? And what’s this? Impaired body? How do I open it again? … Ah, right. Status window.’

As he thought that, a new blue screen appeared before his eyes.

[Status window]
Name: Matthew Carter
Level: 1
Achievements: 1

- Stats -
STR: 12
AGI: 13
END: 12
INT: 15
ATK: 49
DEF: 30
MGK: 45
RES: 39
(Available stat points: 7)

‘Hmmm… There are a few discrepancies with what I’ve read about status windows other than just the color it seems. I’ve never heard of the last 4 stats. Let’s check the details from the achievement and the status that was mentioned before.’

[Achievement: Self-made]
You have fought with nothing but your own weakness and overcome an incredible trial.

Bonus stat points: 5

- Bonus stats -
STR: 1
AGI: 1
END: 1
INT: 1

- Additional effect -
Status [Impaired body] removed and manifestation of [System]. 

‘Huh? Weren’t achievements supposed to give Achievement Points to use in the system’s shop? I gained stats from it? And the stat points… I got 5 from the achievement, yet I have 7 available, so I got 2 elsewhere? Without even buying them? Hm, and what’s that status?’

[Status: Impaired body]
Experiments to grow this body stronger have continuously failed until reaching a point where nothing could be achieved with it anymore. Obtaining a new one is strongly recommended.

- Effect -
If a magic fly had lungs, and it sneezed on you, you would get knocked out. Your body is strengthened with mana as much as a cement wall would be with a toothpick.

Duration: Endless

‘What is this? Experiments? Obtaining a new body? … I can’t seem to get more info on that from the system though. Well, it’s been removed, so whatever, I guess, but still… What the hell? And what kind of effect even is this?’

“Rah let’s check this later, I have to examine my body, and clean all this up…” he grumbled.

He got up and went to check his body in the bathroom mirror.

"Damn… that's a big scar on the shoulder… But why do the chest scars look like badly removed dog paw tattoos? That's a battle scar! Why does it look half cute half stupid? Arg! Not that I wanted any scars in the first place! Fuuuuuuck!" 

Matthew walked angrily back outside of the bathroom. His place was a complete mess. There were rests of traps all over the floor, the walls were riddled with impacts on one side and sprayed with blood stains on the other. There was also the beast's dead body in a pool of drying blood. 

'Well, it did work out in the end. The portal's gone, I'm still alive, got a system, although different, but still got something. Now that I think about it, I got really lucky that there was only one of them.' he thought as he made his way to the body. 

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the wolf’s pelt looked kind of old and there were closed wounds here and there under it as well. 

'Is that why the portal gate was so small? I mean, wolves are usually found in packs, and yet here is this guy, old and in a bad shape… I really got lucky.'

Matthew spent the next two days fixing and cleaning his place up. The blood stains on his favorite player posters over the bed only left small white marks behind from the cleaning product he used. He was glad he managed to recover them so well. He bagged the beast's body in plastic bags and dumped it in a large freezer in an abandoned butcher shop nearby.

“Alright let's check the status window in more detail now." 

As he thought about it, the status window opened before his eyes, more detailed this time.

‘I’ve got 7 stat points available, and it seems I can’t add them to the last 4 stats. Let’s try adding 1 stat point to each stat and see if it has any effect.’

[Status window]
Name: Matthew Carter
Level: 1
Achievements: 1

- Stats -
Strength: 12+1
Agility: 13+1
Endurance: 12+1
Intelligence: 15+1
Attack power: 53
Defense: 33
Magic power: 48
Resistance: 42
(Available stat points: 3)

‘Okay, so I can see the points added by the achievement separately in the detailed view, and adding points in the first four stats increases the last four by, hmm let’s see…’ he thought as he scribbled on a notepad.

“Okay, so one point in Strength gives me three Attack power and one Defense, one point in Agility gives me one point in Attack power, one point in Endurance gives me two points in Defense and one point in Resistance, and one point in Intelligence gives me three points in Magic power and two points in Resistance.” he concluded.

‘Let’s keep the remaining 3 points for now and see how it goes from there. I can’t help but feel like my stats are low compared to what people declared they had once they became a player. I’m sure they all said their stats were in the high twenties.’ he decided, recalling his research on the matter.

He excitedly put away his notepad and made a fist.

"And now, time to check what I can do. I’ll become the strongest magician! Open shop!"