Dave watched SJ as she fell to her knees and began sobbing. The AI had witnessed even some of the hardiest criminals break down during their reincarnations, which was unsurprising. Whether he could really understand it or not, the challenges of realising that you had died and were reborn seemed to affect the population of Earth who ended up being sent here eventually.
“Are you OK?” Dave asked. His usual tone was replaced by a much calmer and supportive one.
SJ sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes. “I just killed Trufflehunter.”
“Who?” Dave asked, confused.
“Trufflehunter, from Prince Caspian.” SJ sniffed.
“What are you talking about?”
“Trufflehunter,” SJ sobbed again with new tears. As she did, her display triggered.
Congratulations on reaching Level 3
You have been awarded the following:
5 hit points
5 mana points
+1 Dexterity
+2 free points to distribute as you wish
SJ choked back a sob as she read the level-up. “I suppose I levelled at least.”
Dave suddenly shouted in a snarky voice, “Are you kidding me?”
“Kidding about what?” SJ replied, sniffing.
“Trufflehunter!”
“What do you mean?”
“He is a fictional character from a damn book. That is what I mean. How on Amathera can you be getting upset over a storybook character?”
“I always liked him because he reminded me of a strong, loyal friend in the story.”
“It was a story!” Dave exclaimed in shock.
“Have you never read anything that has upset you?” SJ snapped. Her sobs were replaced with anger.
“No. Never in a story. They are fake and make-believe. My dad running off with that AI tart upset me, but that was not a story. It was real.”
“Have you ever even read any stories?”
Silence.
“Dave?”
“Noooo,” Dave answered slowly
“Maybe you should try reading some then, and you may understand.”
“I don’t believe a story can be upsetting,” Dave responded frankly.
“Try reading The Fault in Our Stars and tell me it is not upsetting,” SJ angrily replied.
“Hmmph. That’s pathetic behaviour. I honestly thought you were upset because you had died and been reincarnated, but instead, it is because of a ridiculous fictional badger.”
“If you are not going to say anything worthwhile, then don’t say anything at all.”
Silence.
SJ had not realised that she was now standing. While arguing and getting annoyed at Dave, she had stopped crying, and her emotion had turned to anger. The Badger Berserker’s lifeless body lay a few feet from her, and she bent to loot the body.
Congratulations, you have killed your first rare monster in Amathera.
The level class of creatures increases the experience gained and the loot available.
Monsters follow the same class system as items. Common, Good, Rare, Epic, Mythic and Legendary.
3 x silver, 4 x strips of good leather, The Badger’s Blades
Nothing transferred, and her display was triggered.
Please select the item you wish to collect.
SJ checked her inventory. It was full, with the leather strips she had accumulated taking up most of the space. Only one space remained free, and with two items, she had been given the option to choose. It seemed there was a maximum amount of a loot variant permissible for each slot. She had not received any cloth-related items, so she was not sure what would happen when it came to tailoring, but she had assumed that she needed to get drops from monsters for tailoring as well. She selected the garrotte, removed it, and placed it in her pocket before trying again.
Inventory: Rope, Flint and Steel, Torch, Poison Bottles, 84 x Gloss Berries, 10 x Strips of Light Leather, 10 x Strips of Light Leather, 8 x Strips of Light Leather, 4 x Strips of Good Leather, The Badgers Blades
SJ looked at The Badger’s Blades.
The Badger’s Blades +3
Quality - Rare
Damage - 5 - 9 +3
Special - 10% chance of bleed effect
SJ smiled as she read the weapon’s stats. She retrieved the item from her inventory, holding a pair of gloves in her hand. They reminded her of claws from several films, just not as long. Four blades on each glove matched the shape of the dead Badger’s claws, a gentle sweeping curve, but still sharp enough to easily puncture straight on. She tried slipping one of the gloves on but couldn’t. A message came up on the screen.
Only one primary weapon can be carried at a time.
She still had the starting blade in its sheath on her belt and had never even considered its stats. Checking it, she found that it only did 1-3 damage. The claws were a massive upgrade. The Badger Berserker could easily have one-hit the hogling. She removed the blade from her primary weapon slot and placed the claws there instead.
“Dave?”
Silence.
SJ slipped one of the bladed gloves on. It fit her slim hand perfectly. It was light as well. The claws seemed hollow. She stood and took a couple of practice punches with them. With these things on her hands, they would add tremendous damage to her attacks. She imagined the gloves disappearing, and they vanished from her hands, still showing on her character display as her primary weapon. She had to draw the short blade from a sheath, but the claws appeared on her hands when she thought about using them, making them the perfect weapon for sneak attacks. SJ knew she would have to be careful when switching to her new weapons at this rate and didn’t want to think about wearing them at the wrong time.
“These are amazing.”
Silence.
“Dave?”
Silence.
SJ shrugged at his ignorance. The light was fading, and she did not fancy being outside the safe zone at night on her first night in the new world. The display had a small timer in the corner. Looking at it, it was now 21:40. Dave had said there had been an hour of light left before the fight. Looking at the sky, the light was now fading quickly.
SJ returned to the starter zone. As she did, the body of the Badger Berserker disappeared and was replaced by the snuffling of a hogling. Glancing back across the clearing as she left, she saw it begin digging up worms. Ignoring the hogling, knowing she would only get a maximum of six experience, she continued through the wood. On reaching the clearing, she walked over to the flat stone, her display letting her know she was in the safe zone.
She had no blankets or tent to sleep under or any wood gathered to build a fire, kicking herself for not thinking about it earlier. The grass had completely dried again from the lake soaking caused by the dragon, and she sat down on the rock. She casually called up berries from her inventory and popped them in her mouth. “I need a fire.” She had Flint and Steel and a vague idea of how to use them. Standing up, she walked to the edge of the clearing and began to collect the driest small fallen branches and twigs she could find before moving back to the safe zone and constructing a fire.
Switching her primary weapon to her blade again, she shaved the twigs, making kindling. The light was fading quickly now, with only minutes left before the moon would take over. There was no cloud in the sky, and she shivered with the drop in temperature. Taking the flint and steel from her inventory, she struck the flint after adding some kindling to the wood. It took her a while, the light fading fully. It was then she realised that she could still see quite well. The moon was up, and her vision had a green glow. With determination, she continued until the fire caught.
The soft glow of a flame appeared, and cautiously cupping it to prevent the mild breeze from blowing it out, she gently coaxed it until some of the larger pieces caught. This was a much slower process than she had ever witnessed on TV shows. As the flame grew, the warmth and light it cast began to push the cold away. SJ took the rope from her inventory and curled it as best as possible into something she could use to rest her head on and lay back on the grass by the fire.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
The sound exploded in her head, and SJ almost died on the spot in fright from the sheer volume and sudden interruption.
“Dave. You scared the stuffing out of me.”
All SJ was met with was the sound of crying and blubbing with inaudible sounds being made.
“Dave, you are an AI. You can’t cry. What is wrong that has got you in this state?”
“You……..waaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.”
“Dave. Calm down and talk, please. What has upset you?”
“Why would……….waaaaahhhhhhhh.”
“Dave, snap out of it. I cannot help unless you tell me what’s wrong.”
Dave replied, sniffling and tearfully, “I just read the book.”
“Which book?”
“The Fault in Our Stars.”
SJ suddenly remembered what she had said to him in her anger. “Oh.”
“Why did you tell me to read it?” Dave sniffed.
“You were being an ass, and you didn’t think writing could be emotional because they are fictional characters.”
“You are evil,” Dave huffed.
“Evil? Why am I evil? I said that books can be emotional. It was not my fault that you did not believe me and said they were fictional characters.”
“I may have, but that story,” Dave started to cry again.
“Come on now. Really?”
“I have never felt sad before as an AI. I now know what it feels like, and I don’t like it.”
“Sadness is horrible. Whether you have the resilience to bounce back is what counts.”
“I am not sure I can ever forgive you,” another loud sniff.
“At least you can now appreciate that people can get invested in stories, and when authors kill off characters, it can be emotional. It may not be real, but you get tied into them.”
“Never again am I going to read a sad story!”
“OK. I am sure you can access thousands of books that you can read that are not sad.”
“I am not sure I want to. I am scared of how they may affect me.”
“You just have to try and remind yourself it is not real. They are no different to watching films apart from what your brain imagines. Stories are told through many mediums.”
Dave sniffed a few more times, not speaking, before he replied again. “I see you lit a fire.”
“Yes. It was starting to get cold.”
“It does not get too cold at night. It is not like being in the North.”
“Anyway. While you were off reading, I looted the Badger and got some awesome gear.”
“I saw you have Badger’s Blades. They are rare. I cannot remember ever seeing them before. Some rare items come around now and then, but the fact you got a rare item suited to your class is even rarer.”
“I’m not complaining. They are amazing. The damage they do with one hit would kill a hogling outright.”
“They are pretty awesome. You levelled as well but have not allocated your points yet?”
“I am not sure what to do with them. Dexterity is boosting my damage already, although I am not sure by how much as there are no charts.”
“All comes at level 5.”
“I am thinking maybe I should level up the other attributes to at least ten, so I get the 10% bonus on anything that uses them?”
“That would be very sensible,” Dave said, now surprised.
“Why so surprised?”
“I am used to Legionnaires who focus on damage and do not think about anything else. Especially once they have fought a higher-level monster and seen how hard the fights are.”
“I can sort of understand why they would. These claws, though, I think, give me a bit of an edge.”
“More than a bit. As an assassin with high Dexterity as normal, your initiative and the chance to get the first hit in are pretty much guaranteed once you level, unless you are against another assassin. It may even, in some cases, allow you to get two strikes in before anything can react, depending upon what they are.”
“What they are?”
“Yeah, it could be a fighter in full armour or a large lumbering troll. So many different elements come into play during combat. It’s another Oxford and MIT moment.”
“The system does not like to make things straightforward, does it?”
“No. Everything has underlying algorithms when fighting. Sometimes, you think you will win a fight hands down, and then all of a sudden, the luck gods start to laugh at you, and things go wrong. I have seen it happen so many times before.”
“I thought you said the System doesn’t control monsters?”
“It doesn’t in its truest sense, but I am sure it still affects them occasionally.”
“How, though?”
“If I knew that, I would be the System.”
“Fair. Now that you are back, I have more questions for you. Is there a map? You previously mentioned a fog of war, and I know what it means from gaming, but I cannot find a map.”
“Not at your level. Maps become available at Level 10. This is to keep starter players in starter zones until level 10. My red dragon fighting legionnaire is a prime example of why they want you to stay there.”
“I meant to ask you how he even got to meet a red dragon as a starter?”
“Oh. This crazy fool decided to leave the town immediately, spend the first day walking, and enter a mountain region the next day. The red dragon that got him was a hatchling. It was only level 12, but a level 12 hatchling meeting a level 2 Legionnaire, well, you can imagine how it went.”
“That makes sense. I imagined he had managed to travel a huge distance to where they lived on the first day, and you said the blue dragons live five thousand miles away.”
“Ah. Reds are not as big or as strong as blues. Blues are one of the larger breeds out of the various dragons.”
“How many are there?” SJ asked, looking toward the mountain peak where the blue dragon had rested.
“Seven in total. Blue, Black, Red, White, Gold, Green and Platinum.”
“A platinum dragon?”
“Yes. They are very rare, and even hatchlings are legendary monsters. The lowest level platinum dragon you will ever see is nothing less than level forty.”
“As a hatchling?”
“Yes. I have no idea of the highest level they go.”
“Where do they live?”
“On none of the main continents. They live on an island in the middle of the Agrassi Seas. It is a treacherous location, full of water elementals, sprites, mer-creatures, Krakens- think of any sea monster you have ever heard of, and they live in the area.”
“So, they never venture onto the continents?”
“The odd hatchling has now and again. They are good-natured dragons. They only hunt for food, unlike the reds and blacks, who hunt for fun.”
“What about the blue on the mountain?”
“Blue’s are usually good-natured. I have never met an evil blue dragon, but it does not mean they don’t exist.”
SJ considered the different dragons and other fantastical creatures she could start to meet in this new world. Her mind was full of images from all the movies, games, and books she had read.
“I was thinking of shrinking to miniature form for the night.”
“Why?”
“The grasses and rope would protect me from the wind, and the fire, now lit, would provide immense warmth in comparison.”
“That is actually another sensible idea. I am quite surprised at your logical thinking, considering your start.”
SJ rolled her eyes, shrinking into miniature form. The fire, now huge compared to her size, felt much warmer. She would need to keep an eye on it and keep it burning, but staying warmer was much easier, especially with the long grasses blocking most of the night’s breeze. The rope that she had removed from her inventory had remained the same size, providing even more cover.
“I think I need some sleep.”
“OK. You will be safe here. Nothing can enter the safe zone.”
“Please do not shout in my head overnight.”
“I will only shout if I need to wake you.”
“You can wake me if you need to, then?” SJ asked.
“Yes. If I need to, I shouldn’t need to wake you here, though.”
“OK. Then I am going to sleep.” SJ felt drained after the day’s activities, and once she leaned back against the coiled rope, it took her moments to drift off- even with the night’s sounds filtering from the forest.
