by Roffles
Gabriel Oaks went into the mountains looking for clarity. Instead, he found himself in a cavern watching a dragon fight a phoenix, opened a magical box that should have stayed closed, and somehow survived. Not just any magical box. Pandora's Box. When Gabriel wakes, nearly sixty years have passed. Magic is real, technology has eroded alongside it, and the world he knew is gone. Fortunately, Gabriel isn't exactly normal anymore either. Good thing he never was "normal" to begin with. Armed with abilities like Heartburn Blast and Mana Marbles, a semi-sentient blade named Firefury that enables his terrible decisions, and the Pandora System that rarely misses an opportunity to roast him, Gabriel now has to learn a different world. As an avid gamer, he does what any experienced gamer does. Skips the tutorial. Now he's stumbling through a new world fueled by stubbornness, spite, bad puns, and decades-old pop culture references nobody understands anymore. As he's winging it through this new world, his trauma haunts him. Literally. Fueled by self deprecation, flexible judgment, and questionable methods, he's trying to figure out how to survive it all. In hindsight, he's finding new reasons to need therapy. Good thing the System gives it to him. Unfortunately for him, Pandora's idea of therapy usually involves boss fights.
