by Sergei Katz
— There may be something I can do after all. Here! — She clapped her hands.
New quest: “Find it within yourself” (unique).
Obtain your first “Vorto” by any means, within 60 days.
Reward: Basic Rune Word (a rare one at the very least).
— So how am I supposed to search for that when I don’t even have a class yet?
— First of all, even though you left the initial location, you are under our protection for the first nine days. None of the humanoid creatures can harm you, unless you attack them first. Secondly, we are now in the sacred forest of the Fairies, and you can stay here for these nine days, then you will have to leave it and enter the outside world. If you use the time correctly and wisely, then you can achieve even more than you would have in a protected meadow under Leah’s tutorship. As for the rest ...
Tsi was not embarrassed even a bit, and told me that she had done everything she could, and that now everything was in my hands. After that, the High Fairy just melted into thin air.
— Bleep! — I flew over to the nearest tree and slammed my fist into it. It was painful. Ouch, I forgot that pain existed here as well, although I was hoping it wasn’t as bad as it was in the real world. I began to squeeze and unclench my fist, and gradually the pain passed away. I wasn’t ready to give up on three years of being surrounded by colors, smells and adventures! I had my task and time was on my side. In this case, there was nothing to sulk about. I had to go and search for the rune word.
CHAPTER 4:
GETTING TO KNOW
THE WORLD
I was ready to go deeper into the forest. I thought to myself: I didn’t have a class and I didn’t know any fighting techniques. I was as weak as a newborn baby, and in addition to that, I was unarmed and unprotected. I was aware of this, after examining my clothing: unfortunately, both garments offered zero protection whatsoever. It seemed to me that it would be better for me not to leave the initial location for some time. I had always been quick to make decisions, so I decided to start exercising right away. I started with the simplest exercise: I did 10 push-ups, but on the 10th push-up I received a message.
Level of Fatigue: 10/10, you are exhausted.
I told myself that if I couldn’t do anything at that point, then I could take another look at my attributes. As soon as I thought about this, the system brought up a data screen for me, and I immediately asked for the information to be as detailed as possible.
True Name: Marten.
Name in the world is: Dee.
Race: Newcomer.
Path: not selected.
Class: not selected.
Skills: not selected.
Professions: not selected (3 available).
Basic characteristics:
“Strength”: 1 - the ability to carry up to 1 kg (Parameter of 10 * to the “Strength” agility). Affects many actions, including attack;
“Agility”: 2 - evasion from physical attacks and throwing weapons 0.2% (Parameter of 0.1% * “Agility”). Affects many actions, including the chance of striking a critical blow;
“Stamina”: 1 - the life energy of the character 10 lives (Parameter of 10 * “Stamina”). A affects many actions, including those taken into account in resistance;
“Intellect”: 1 - the magical energy of the character 10 manna. (Parameter of 1 *“Intellect”). Affects many actions, including magical damage;
“Attentiveness”: 1 - gives a chance to notice something invisible, a chance (hidden).
Abilities:
“Herbalist” (1%), Beginner level. Confers ability to see names, determine scope of and collect better quality herbs, mushrooms, roots and berries.
No surprises there: a minimum amount of information and the rest was a mystery. The program was written so that a player could find his way around by himself. This was even better, as far as I was concerned. I didn’t like it when everything was done for me. I preferred to be spontaneous and to experiment.
Also, as it turned out, I had an invisible bag of some sorts, with a capacity of 50 items, but the only thing in the bag so far was a jar of red liquid. The inscription on the label read: “mild medicinal drink, restores up to 100 life points”.
I didn’t think about what I was doing. I tried to grab it with my hand, without really knowing where the bag was, and somehow, I got it. How clever it was to come up with such an idea. It's good that I managed to locate it, as it seemed that this was part of the knowledge that the fairy was supposed to give to me in the initial location, but it was no longer available to me anymore. Well, it’s not the end of the world, I would figure something out, I wasn’t a kid anymore.
At this point, the level of fatigue showed zero, so I did another 10 push-ups, and received a bonus as expected.
Your “Stamina” has increased: +1 (2).
Immediately after this, the level of fatigue went back down to zero. I didn’t even get up, but continued doing push-ups instead. I spent several hours alternating between push-ups and thinking about my future plans. During this time, my “Strength” had increased by 3, reaching a level of 4, and “Stamina” had received an additional 3, reaching a level of 5. At this point If I did even more push-ups, then soon I would be having nightmares about them. I needed to diversify my exercise regime somehow, and I certainly didn’t want to go back to doing push-ups any time soon. Whilst doing them, I decided that the best thing to do would be to walk around the outskirts of the initial location in the forest. So, not only I could begin to get used to this world, but I definitely would learn not to get lost.
Sticking to my well thought out plan, I went deep enough into the forest, so that I could still see the meadow that was the site of my initial arrival without straining my vision, and I started walking around it.
I couldn’t say that walking through the forest was that simple. I was constantly being caught by branches and stumbling over tree roots. Many of the bushes were spiky too. That was why my “Life” level was somewhere around 35 and it hadn’t had enough time to go back to maximum. For the first couple of hours, I was just walking through the forest. I enjoyed every moment, discovering new smells and studying the colors that I liked the most. Thanks to the "Three Senses" ability given by the Voice, I could even see and feel the definitions of colors and scents. It was not entirely clear to me how it worked, as there were no captions, but I just knew them anyway. For instance, I could feel which scent smelled sharp, or that something was a deep red massak color. During my exploration, the only thing that I found was four beams of a strange plant of the color of a bog, structurally reminiscent of moss. This raised my “Herbalist” ability by 0.5% (1.5% in total). That was my only success.
Deciding to speed up a little, therefore pumping my “Stamina” and “Skills” up, I went on a light jog, for which I immediately paid a price. I tripped over a very large root at full speed, smashing my forehead against a big tree which resembled a maple.
You have received damage: -15 Life points (down to 20).
Enough was enough! This did not feel like a game at all, it was all quite like a life in the real world. I was angry with myself; everything I was doing thus far was lame, and not at all productive. I got up automatically and went on my way, walking cautiously, making sure that there were no tree roots, and trying not to get caught up in branches. Gradually, I got into a rhythm, and continued walking, almost on autopilot. Suddenly a system message appeared right in front of me.
You have discovered the “Easy Pace” skill. Your level is Beginner (1).
I stopped for a moment in total surprise. Did the game creators develop skills and abilities for everything that could be learned in the real world, and this was not something limited by class, but could be learned by anyone? If so, it fundamentally changed everything. Deciding to test my theory on the spot, I started walking, paying attention not only to how I walked, but also to the amount of noise made by my movement through the forest. About twenty-five minutes later, when I was about to lose hope, a message came
up, which I had been waiting for.
You have discovered the “Silent Step” ability. Your level is Beginner (1).
At the same time my “Easy pace” ability received +2 (3). Well, now I was absolutely sure that anything was possible in this world. Kiyoshi, you’re a genius! I was in awe at how the dynamics of development had been worked out! I was so inspired by my success and the possibilities of the game that I almost forgot about the threat of being thrown out of the beta test. The long-forgotten excitement of being a part of a game was awakened within me. Up until this point the opportunity to smell scents, see colors and taste flavors was the most important thing to me. Speaking about taste, an evening had already come and I had done nothing to obtain food or find a place to sleep. Dusk had fallen over the forest without me noticing. There were no stars in the sky, but according to my internal body clock, the first star would appear in an hour or an hour and a half.
You have discovered a new ability: “Internal Body Clock”. Your level is Beginner (1).
So, it would appear that this was one of the additional feelings that we were told about at the conference, and it's a very useful ability. Mentally, I wanted to know what the time was. The system reported that it was now evening. Originally, I was amused by the developers’ humor: since so far this ability was at 1, then that was all it took for the time being.
I decided to keep going, but at the same time I started paying attention to the surroundings, trying to find some food and a place to stay overnight. While walking past a bush, I noticed a strange fruit on the ground, reminiscent of an acorn, only black and without a husk.
Your “Attentiveness” ability has increased: +1 (2).
Just a small achievement, but nice all the same. I picked up the fruit. To my surprise, the fruit was very heavy: putting it in my bag, I estimated its weight to be as much as 200 grams. I wasn’t sure if I was going to eat it, but it could prove useful to me as a throwing weapon. After searching around all the bushes I could see, I collected eleven more of those fruits. At the same time, my “Attentiveness” level increased by one more point and reached three.
In search of the plant on which these fruits were growing, I began to look at the crowns of the trees surrounding me. I noticed a large beautiful lemon-yellow fruit, shaped like a strawberry on one of them. I instantly regretted not having a stick to knock it down with. Potentially, this was the first edible fruit that I had come across. I pulled out a couple of acorns, took aim and launched them one at a time in the direction of the fruit. The first missed by fifty centimeters, the second was ten centimeters closer. One by one, I threw all my weapons, never once hitting the target. Searching the ground where the acorns had fallen, I was able to find the whole dozen. I returned to my previous position and continued shooting. This time, the fourth attempt was successful, and the fruit fell to the ground. The system rewarded my success:
Your “Agility” attribute has increased: +1.
You have discovered the “Thrown Weapon” ability. Your level is Beginner (1).
You have discovered the “Accuracy” ability: +1.
Picking up the fruit and collecting my weapons, I decided that it was time to try and eat my trophy. I cautiously bit off a small piece: a delicious, slightly sweetish fruit. My head started feeling somewhat dizzy. I had never experienced anything like this in my life.
Your “Herbalist” attribute has increased: +1% (2.5%).
You have been affected: +10 on the fatigue scale (50 + 10 from the fruit). You have 1 hour.
Your cravings for food are 90% satisfied.
Wow, it looked like food could have an effect as well, and it was no surprise that I had started to feel slightly hungry. It appeared that eating in this game was compulsory. I wondered, what about the rest of the body's needs? I didn’t need to do anything just yet, but what would I do when I was desperate? I finished eating my fruit, and started looking around for the similar trees to the one which I found the fruit on. My reward was finding another big yellow “strawberry” fruit.
Your “Attentiveness” ability has increased: +1 (4).
I was fascinated as to why my abilities were increasing so rapidly. I wondered, would it always be so or only in the initial stages? Most likely, the latter. Well, I guess would have to wait and see. I began the bombardment, just like the one I did before. This time I knocked down the fruit at the ninth attempt.
“Thrown Weapon”: +1 (2).
“Accuracy: +1 (2).
No points were given for “Agility” this time, but you couldn’t win them all. At least I had another fruit that I could eat in the morning. After picking it up, I received a message.
Your “Herbalist” ability has increased: +0.5% (2.5%).
Looking closer at the “strawberry”, I realized that I already knew its name and characteristics:
Yellow fruit of the forest. It is used for making potions and for cooking, and it is edible raw.
— Well then, yellow fruit of the forest, it’s nice to meet you, — I smiled, stroking the fruit.
Suddenly I was aware that something had changed, but the feeling quickly passed. I put the fruit into my bag, and continued to stroll around the initial location. As it turned out, the meadow, which I had left so unsuccessfully, was on the way out. The rest of the arrival location stretched behind the negligent fairy. If I calculated the distances correctly, then with my slow movement I had not even passed a quarter of the way around yet.
Darkness inevitably replaced the daylight, so after being mysterious, the forest started becoming quite scary, even though I knew that I was in a fairly safe location. According to the High Fairy, if I didn’t do anything stupid, then I had nothing to fear. The real question was: what was considered stupid as far as the local monsters went and how bored were they? With my agility and attributes, I was more like a toy than a threat.
Deciding that I had come far enough for one day, I found a place to sleep. It was a big tree, a trunk of which separated into three large branches about a meter off the ground, and formed a nest of sorts. I collected a few big, incredibly strong and almost straight burdocks, and created something resembling a bed. Then I took some soft grass which grew nearby and made a pillow out of it. No sooner had I finished fluffing up my future pillow, when the system sent a message:
You have created an uncomfortable bed.
You have discovered the “Scout” ability. Beginner level (1%).
How original. Usually scouts knew quite a lot about this sort of things, so it was curious to see how this new ability would develop. It’s a useful one in any case, and it was good that I discovered it by myself, without any instructor’s help.
Despite a lot of discomfort, I still managed to get settled on my new bed without fear of falling off when I was asleep. Since I wasn’t provided with a sleeping bag, I curled up and covered myself with a pair of hard burdocks. I laid there but couldn’t fall asleep. Although it was dark now, even in this darkness I could still see many amazing and new shades of color. I took these shades in and gave them names, peering at each twig and every crack I could find in the tree. The smells were also simply extraordinary, and although I couldn’t compare them to anything from the real world, in some strange way, every time I caught a scent, I could associate it with a tree, grass or a flower.
Attentiveness: +1 (5).
Unfortunately, when this message popped up it disturbed my line of thought, and I couldn’t go back. I was so exhausted psychologically that I didn’t recall how I finally fell asleep.
CHAPTER 4.1.
FAIRIES: THE EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL
A huge marble hall was illuminated by many crystal lamps. The walls were decorated with relief images of the most significant moments from the history of the world in which the fairies had taken part.
Suddenly, a strange breeze blew in from nowhere, and, as if inspecting if everything was in place, circled the hall. Then it moved to the center in an instant and disappeared the same way it had arrived. There was a sligh
t trill coming from all around, and fairies began to appear in the hall.
An outside observer, if they were allowed to attend such a meeting of course, would probably get curious: why were all the fairies dressed in blue? Only the shades of blue were different. However, nobody else was there apart from the fairies, so there was nobody to ask this question in the first place.
At first, the previously empty and quiet hall got filled with the rustling of wings and conversations. A few minutes later, however, Tsi appeared in the middle of the hall, and everyone immediately fell silent. A very old fairy flew out to meet the new arrival and bowed:
— Welcome to our Council, Tsi!
Before answering, the High Fairy looked around the hall attentively: the fairies' reaction to her arrival was, of course, different. Some were embarrassed, and some looked at her with respect. There were other emotions, but nothing negative from anybody. Satisfied, Tsi smiled at the old fairy:
— Thank you, Siyatintil! I'm glad to see that you are in good health and that your magical power has not weakened a bit.
Then she addressed the whole audience:
— You all know why you have been invited to this emergency Council of Celestial Fairies. The young fairy Leah, who was going through the initial level training, has made a terrible mistake. Her mistake is the mistake of all of us, including me. During the first days of Newcomers being in our world, they are weak and helpless, just like small children. They do not know our laws and customs, and have no abilities and knowledge. Because of the error of one of the Celestial Fairies, this Newcomer will not receive the knowledge that we owe him. Moreover, he does not even have a basic “Vorto”, and we could lose him completely in two months.
A frightened cry passed through the room, followed by comments on all sides:
— There are not enough Newcomers at all!
—You can count on the fingers of one hand how many Newcomers and patrons come here! This one is the only follower his patron has.
— We need to do something!
