“Levelling then, where do I start?” SJ asked.
“At the beginning.”
SJ sighed. “Can we please just have a normal conversation?”
“I thought this was normal. I have watched many of your Earth TV series to ensure I am attuned to your conversational needs.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Of course, as an AI, we are to keep up to date with the latest Earth trends to be aware of potential new outcomes here in Amathera.”
“How would someone do that? It is not as though we can bring anything with us?”
“You would be surprised! Only recently has a new genre of music begun to appear across the planet.”
“Really, what sort of music?”
“A group calling themselves the Army has appeared singing all these new ballads.”
“The Army?”
“Yes. They are a strange group, all female as well.”
“What has their sex got to do with it?”
“That is the strangest thing. Sex does not normally matter in Amathera, but when it comes to this group, it brings the meaning to a whole new level. They have also become very popular amongst multiple races as they are quite diverse. They have had sell-out concerts in some larger towns and are rumoured to perform at one of the capitals soon.”
“Diverse? And what capitals?”
“Amathera has five main continents, each with a capital city. There are also race capitals in certain territories. The group consists of seven members: a troll, an orc, three dwarves, an elf, and a human. The human is the lead singer, although they all sing parts. It was quite unnerving to behold.”
“What has that got to do with them being female?”
“Have you ever seen a female troll or an orc, never mind female dwarves? None of them are exactly the most charismatic of creatures. The elf and human are the only two semi-attractive ones, although the elf has very large ears even for their race.”
“Do their looks matter if they are good at singing?”
“If they could sing, I wouldn’t mind. I call it moaning. You would have to listen to them to understand what I really mean.”
“Then why are they popular?”
“Apparently, the Army transcends worlds!”
SJ had images of one of her favourite K-pop groups. She had gotten into K-pop at University when her roommate played it continually, and she had fallen in love with the music. She had followed a group called BTS for some years. Their followers were known as the Army, and she could imagine someone trying to bring their music here. They had not produced anything new recently, and she had lost track of what the group had been up to.
“Can we get back to levelling now?”
“Oh. Yes. Sorry. Levelling 1-0-1. The first rule is don’t die. The second rule is to kill the enemy.”
“That is all the advice you have?”
“No. Let me finish, will you? You can level two ways, either in miniature or large form.”
“Is there a preference or better option?”
Silence.
“Dave?”
“Just checking the wiki.” Several moments passed before Dave again responded. “Nope. Either work. Creatures are aligned to your size and level within starter zones until you reach level 5. Then the fun can really begin.”
“Okay. Well, I would like to try it in miniature form to practice trying to fly. The sooner I get used to flying, the easier travel will be.”
“If you wish.”
SJ concentrated on becoming miniature, and her body shrunk. She had not even considered it beforehand, but to her relief, the items she wore and carried shrunk with her. Once she had shrunk, she stood amongst the blades of the grass that filled the meadow. From her six inches of height, she suddenly felt as though she was in the wilds looking around her. It reminded her of some old movies she had watched called Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
“How do I find targets?”
“You must leave the safe zone. I would suggest not moving far as I am unsure what level monsters are around here. Although they should be matched, you can never be 100% certain.”
“That sounds ominous. I need to leave the clearing then?”
“You shouldn’t. It doesn’t stretch that far.”
“You could have mentioned that while I was still large.”
“You did not…”
“Don’t!” SJ warned.
“Hmmph.”
SJ thought about becoming large again and soon returned to her larger size. Once she was, she started to walk towards the forest from where she stood by the water’s edge in the clearing. She had only walked about ten metres when two messages appeared on her screen.
You are leaving your safe zone. Be aware you may be attacked.
Reach level 10
Rewards: Unknown
“Are rewards for levelling only for every ten levels?”
“No. You get progress enhancements at each level. What’s strange is that you don’t normally receive a target level. It is usually just a part of the new life process. Especially one with an unknown reward.”
“Well, I have an initial goal now,” SJ replied, smiling.
Walking a few more paces outside of the zone, SJ stopped.
“Now that I have moved far enough away, let’s start,” SJ again shrunk herself to a miniature form. “What can I expect to fight?”
“No idea.”
“What do you mean you have no idea?”
“I have never looked after a fae, so this is all new to me.”
“Does your all-knowing wiki not tell you anything?”
“I can look.”
Again, there was Silence while Dave accessed the wiki. “Potentially, in a starter zone as a miniature, multiple species may attack you, mainly insects.”
“So, I keep an eye out for insects,” As SJ finished what she was saying, a buzzing sound could be heard. She looked up towards where the sound originated and saw a monstrous bee. Its black and yellow striped body looked huge with her miniature form, and she gasped slightly. A bright red flower stood three times her height, and the bee moved in and landed on it. She watched as it began to collect pollen from the flower. She didn’t move and watched silently as it finished collecting nectar and pollen before it took off, looking for its next source.
“Ok. That was a little scary.”
“Scary? It was a harmless honeybee. Did you not use your identification skill on it?”
“No. You did not mention anything about using the skill.”
“I thought common sense would prevail, but I was so misguided,” Dave sighed.
“Look, to make things easier for you, just think of me as a noob and tell me everything I should or need to do. Imagine I don’t know or understand anything.”
“That really is not hard to imagine.”
SJ stopped and began to move her wings, “Let’s see if flying helps.”
“Good idea,” Dave said.
Within moments, her back began to throb. “Something is wrong. I ache so much from trying.”
“Maybe it just takes time? I’m not sure.”
SJ shook her head in response, sighing. She began to push through the tall grass, continuing towards the massive forms of the trees she could see towering above the clearing. She had not moved far when she stumbled upon a small earthen mound in the grass.
“Oh no,” Dave said.
“What?” SJ asked, panicking.
“Termites.”
“Termites?”
“Yes. It is a termite mound, and you have just triggered their proximity alarm.”
“How? I did not do anything.”
“The ground around a termite mound is filled with small pressure areas that will alert the guard.”
“They have a guard?” As SJ replied, she began to hear the skittering and scratching of feet before the head of a termite appeared at the mouth of the mound. Its white translucent head peering over and down at her. The termite had small pincer-style jaws that clicked together aggressively as it looked at SJ.
“Use your skill and identify it.”
“How?”
“Did you not set your identification skill on your character sheet?”
“And when did you mention that?”
“Ah. That’s a good point. I didn’t, sorry. You better do it now. You won’t have to look at your skill tree then.”
SJ quickly opened her character screen and moved her identification skill to the empty skill slots on the main screen. “OK, I’m all set. How do I use it?”
“Just think which slot it is in.”
SJ placed it in the first slot and chose it to trigger the skill. Nothing happened, and a small cooldown timer gradually ran down on the skill. She had not been looking at the termite when she had triggered it. She would have face-palmed if she had not started panicking as a second and third termite head appeared at the opening. She looked in the ugly little insect’s direction and triggered the skill again. Her display changed, and three small bars and a level identifier appeared above each termite.
Termite Worker Level 1
Hit points - 5
Mana points - 5
All three had the same details.
“All level 1 with the same health and mana as me,” SJ said, her vocal octave even higher than her miniature forms normal. She stood and drew her short blade. The termites were not very large. Compared to her size, they were about 1 inch long as they moved over the mound’s side and approached her.
“Remember. Don’t die,” Dave said unhelpfully.
“Wow. Thanks for the pep talk,” SJ replied as the first termite began to run at her. The other two stayed back. As it scuttled at her, she automatically fell into a side stance following her martial arts training and held the blade in a stabbing position. As the termite charged, she waited until the last moment before stepping sideways just out of the reach of its open pincers that clicked together in the space she had left, stabbing out with her blade, striking the termite in its soft, fleshy, assumed neck.
The termite squealed, and she noticed its health bar drop by over half. She struck again quickly before it could control its momentum and turn towards her. The blade struck it in a leg this time, and its health bar dropped again. It flopped to the ground as it hit zero. The two remaining termites clicked their pincers angrily and attacked. Both ran directly for her in retribution for their fallen comrade. She dodged the first charge but was caught by a glancing blow from the second. It made her stagger, taking one damage.
She saw a dark stain of blood appear on her top where it had caught her on the side. Grabbing at the injury with her free hand, wincing in pain. It was not bleeding badly, but she knew if that did one damage, she only had four health left and needed to kill them quickly. She struck at the nearest one, catching it in its abdomen as it turned back to face her from its charge. It squealed in pain and received four damage from the strike. The injured termite backed up as the first one she had dodged turned back and went to bite her.
Diving sideways to escape its strike, rolling on the ground, and coming to rest by the side of the mound. The termite turned to go straight for her again. She was ready this time, and as it went to hit her, she parried the attack, knocking its pincers to the side as she drove the blade into its soft neck. The termite suffered three damage and pulled back. Both were injured badly now, one with one health and the other only having two remaining.
Panting from the exertion, suddenly realising that she was fighting for her life, sent terror through her. It was a feeling she had never experienced before. Her nerves were on edge, her stomach churning, feeling both sick and as though her bowels would open at any second. She faced her foe with grit and determination. “Come on,” she cried at them.
The one with one hit point came first, and rather than stab with her knife, she brought her foot around in a sweeping strike and caught it across the side of its head, removing its last health. The other moved at her as she finished her movement and, rather than bite at her, bowled straight into her, jumping at her stomach.
The wind left her lungs, and she was thrown backwards onto the ground. The smaller termite clambered up her body, attempting to bite her face. She had received another damage from the charge, and she reached out with her hand, grabbing one of its pincers as she drove the knife up and into its softer underbelly.
The termite flopped forward onto her dead. She panted as she sat up, pushing the dead insect from her, covered in the white ooze which had seeped from its wound. “Urgh,” she said as she sat up, flicking her arms to remove the goo.
“Well done,” Dave said.
“Thanks,” SJ replied, panting. “That was harder than I expected.” She felt her side and could still feel the dampness of the blood from the initial hit she had taken, wincing slightly.
“Let’s see what loot they have,” Dave said.
“Loot?”
“Yes. All bodies may be looted.”
SJ stood and bent over the nearest body. A message appeared on her screen.
Would you like to loot the corpse? Yes/No
She accepted Yes.
1 x copper, 2 x strips of light leather
She did the same while walking around the other two corpses. The three termites awarded her two copper pieces and five light leather strips, which automatically appeared in her inventory.
“I need to go back and rest for a bit,” SJ said.
“Probably best. At least termites are not venomous. Some of the insects might poison you if they hit you.”
“Now you tell me.”
“You didn’t…” Dave said, pausing.
“Ask,” she sighed.
“At least it was not a termite soldier and just workers.” When Dave finished saying that, the ground started to shake, and small clumps of earth started to fall from the termite mound entrance.
“What is that?” SJ said in shock.
“I think I spoke too soon. If I were you, I would run,” Dave said as a head three times larger than the previous termites’ appeared. The head was dark ochre and had pincers longer than SJ’s arms.
SJ began to run.
