The Dragon and the Sparrow

How does a nobody like me become a wizard?

There are no nobodies, only people who haven't been placed in the correct story. Mine begins on Earth, where an education in comparative literature prepared me for a distinguished career selling timeshares from a call center.

My daughter deserved better than the life I could give her. My wife had long stopped expecting me to provide it.

Then an earthquake buried me beneath my office, and amid the rubble appeared a portal of blue light. Naturally, I stepped through.

On the other side waited a world of magic, monsters, and opportunity—and, most curiously, a System that measures a man's worth in numbers and lives taken.

Gain a class. Kill. Earn experience. Level up.

The rules are refreshingly simple, and I'm very good at following rules.

Every monster slain, every dungeon cleared, every spell mastered moves the number upward. Here, unlike on Earth, achievement is measurable. Here, I am becoming someone Earth never allowed me to be.

Yet something is still missing: purpose.

One day, I will return for my daughter, my little sparrow. After all, what father doesn't wish to give his child a better world?

For my part, I intend to give her an empire.