The sun was setting over the borders of nearby sky rise buildings, showing their outline in the grandiosity of humanities ingenuity in building. It was one of those days where the sun was shining in one side of the town, while the other part of it was hugged by billowing dark clouds, drenching the metric tons of concrete in its wet pouring. The cars were zipping by, as everyone was hurrying back to their homes, apartments and other dwelling to finally rest up after an exhausting day at work. Not many people were out walking because of the drenching rain, but one figure was slowly walking with his umbrella covering his meek frame. His face was full of struggle, as if the wind was trying to pick him up and blow him away to another world.
That would be awesome, the figure thought. His name was Oastin, Oastin Coates for those he deemed not acquainted enough and for medical personnel. He towered at 160 cm height and his clothes were hanging loosely on his body, which didn’t help in this situation as the wind rushed up in all the open spots and over his body, cooling it further in places the rain couldn’t get in. Short hair on his head was covered with a beanie, while his dark brown eyes scanned the incoming cars, as if they were planning the most efficient route to take to splash him with the most amount of water possible. That happened five minutes ago, so his brain was not in the best state to forgive these hurrying people.
The bag in his arm shuffled all the ramen packs that were soaked from the splashing accident as he was pulling out his key to the apartment. It was not much, but what could a student want more? A shower and a bathroom combo, small kitchen which was mainly used for heating up store bought food and making instant coffee, a bedroom with a single bed and a table with his personal computer that he built using various used parts two years ago.
Pouring boiling water on some ramen and carrying it to his tiny bedroom, he was feeling quite excited as he got the newest book from his favorite fantasy writer out of his backpack and flipped the first page. It was a good book if we could have a chance of reading it, telling us a story of a lonesome tree that has gained sentience in a cut down forest of Apalichia named Pando, the Ever Growing Tree. The world of Chicharu consumed Oastin in its magically razed landscapes, polluted rivers from steampunk-ish mages, the dynamics between the whole world making a deal with a single tree and other fantasy tidbits that those LitRPG fans like, like level ups and complex systems of upgrading oneself to become the best version you can ever be.
I wish that was me, having the power to change other people’s lives on a whim, looking cool by saying a few perfect lines in the perfect moments, having a real status that I could see in front of me to motivate me to be a better version of myself or just dumping shit loads of points into strength and razing a building to the ground with one finger. Oastin knew that was only fantasies and daydreams and in real world, that was frowned up by normal people. They were too busy to enjoy these magical words written on the paper or online, piling themselves with things to do that don’t really matter, at least if he was concerned, why would he go to the gym and lift huge weights if he could experience an even better representation of strength in the books he reads?
The pages were flipped one after another and soon it was 3 a.m, the rain was softly hitting the window in the background as Oastin finished the last words of the villain leading into yet another cliffhanger ‘’- And whatever you do, I wouldn’t care for I am far greater existence compared to you, capable of crushing your meager attempts at resisting me. The Grand Federation doesn’t allow trees or other lesser specimens into its ranks because you would be of no use to any of us. – said the Grand General of the Grand Federation of Grandness.
‘’Oh I guess I’ll make my own federation then and regress your crappy Grand Federation into medieval times then, old man. – said Pando, forming two hands out of his bark wood and flipping the General with two woody middle fingers.“ He‘s gonna make a federation of his own for merely not letting him in? Dumb, after making so many smart choices, the writer is probably out of ideas or something. I‘ll get the other book just to be sure that the story is going downhill.
Putting the book on the table and setting a gazillion alarms for 7 a.m. so he is not late for University, he dives into the bed and instantly falls asleep. Those last pages were pretty boring probably, a repeat of a repeating trope.
As Oastin slept, the stars in the sky shimmered, sparkling with the beauty of creation itself, moving as if dancing with each other. As these stars were enjoying themselves, a big glob of violet appeared from a break in the reality, the edges of the portal were as if the most colorful rainbow was on fire around it, shining in deep, strong greens, happy yellows, exotic purples‘, dry and hot reds and other various colors that had their own personalities. The glob crashed into the group of stars and one of them took the brunt of the hit, falling straight into the gloomy town of Roshterverk and into one of the run down buildings, going unnoticed by it‘s denizens, but eliciting a few barks from the wandering dogs on the street. As fast as the phenomen appeared, it went away at the same speed, the stars going back into their designated positions while the purple blob dried up and fizzled up into the nothingness of space.
That night Oastin had a vivid dream of humongous forests covering the lands as far as he could see, deserts full of magical red crabs trekking softly in the sand, a never ending city under the great seas shining in bioluminescence, a deep ravine in the ground full of shadowy creatures with teeth that could match a dozen sharks, mountains that touched the sky with their cold peaks, floating islands in the sky with avian creatures carefully constructing their nests and cuddling their little ones, fields so beautiful it would bring peace to even the most bloodthirsty soul, a mystical land where flowers bloomed and died in the span of seconds, magical constellations that moved in the everlasting dance, a land where anything you wanted would appear right in front of you, a sprawling jungle full of gigantic beings clawing at each other while regrowing impossibly big limbs, a city from the future with flying disks and space lifts, a huge wall full of windows and wizened old folk flying around with rolls of parchment papers in their hands and over the wall was... it. A deep purple hole in reality, shining in the most peculiar colors that did not even exist in the real world. It was calling for Oastin to come closer, to take a look inside...
A blaring sound quickly shot Oastin out of his magical dreams and in search of his phone to turn off that damned alarm with his eyes closed, but he regained enough conscious brain to remember that he put his phone on the table to make sure that he really woke up. Grunting while getting out of bed, he made himself some coffee, washed up and got ready for another day at the university.
Stepping outside he was a bit surprised at the weather being so good this morning and chose to walk to the university instead of taking a bus. Good days come after the bad one‘s as they say, good thing it‘s Friday and I can enjoy the weekend. Should I go to some thrift shops later? Maybe I will find something nice on such a beautiful day. Oastin had a hobby of going around various thrift shops and antique stores, looking at various things that have survived being used for decades. His dad and mom used to always bring him together when they went to these places and their home was filled with various restored decorations, furniture and one time his dad even bought an actual World War 2 generator and fixed it up and repainted it himself in the garage. He said he got pretty penny for that one from an old collector. As the result from these outings with his parents, Oastin grew to love finding new and interesting things that were lost to time, but he did not inherit his parent‘s love for restoring them. He would probably come around to doing that in the future when he got a bigger place, even if for the sake of saving some money, but his skinny and weak body did not allow him to lift big furniture or heavier decorations by himself and his ego did not let him ask for others help as he liked doing everything himself. Quite a contradiction.
---X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X---
These professors keep piling new assignments on us without even caring if we have enough time for them, why the hell do I need to hand draw five different schematic plans if we have like a dozen different softwares for that thing? It‘s a complete nonsense. And it‘s due in two weeks! I should have chosen something different than construction engineering... As Oastin was debating whatever he made a good choice on his university‘s program, the antique store was quickly getting closer to him. Opening the door he was greeted by a middle age British guy.
‘‘Good day to you on this fine day, do you have something specific that you are looking for?‘‘
‘‘Hello, no thanks, I‘m just gonna take a look around.‘‘ Oastin said while eyeing the pretty cramped antique store. It was his first time visiting this specific store, so he was feeling a tad bit excited.
‘‘Okay, just don‘t make a mess and if you break something, you are buying it.‘‘ said the clerk and resumed cleaning the table.
‘‘Got it!‘‘ Said Oastin as he started walking around the shelves full of random stuff.
Old lamps, stools, chairs, there was even an old dining table by the wall. It seemed that this shop was a bit more modern as it had old tube TV‘s, gaming consoles, game cartridges, disc players, speakers and other technological bits that would be hard to find in other stores. After walking around the big antiques section, he came upon a shelf at the back of the store that held various rings, bracelets and other jewellery. Of course they were not in the best condition, some were rusted, some were black from what looked like smoke, some were painted in a shabby way or just in bad condition from all the wear and tear of daily life.
The bottom shelf drew his attention to various pendants and belt holders and as he was pushing them around to have a better look, he touched something that zapped him. Nothing serious of course, but Oastin focused on this medallion looking thing with 15 holes on the front face of it, while the back was smooth. It actually felt really good to hold in his hand and the condition of it was not that bad, nothing some special cleaning techniques he learned from his mom would not clean. He picked it up and bought it to the store keeper.
‘‘So you find anything you like back there?‘‘
‘‘Yeah, how much for this?‘‘ Asked Oastin as he played with the medallion in his hand.
‘‘That would be... I don‘t remember that piece actually... I must be getting in the years, how about the standard jewellery price of 10 euros?‘‘
‘‘Yes, we can do that. Here you go, have a nice day!‘‘
‘‘Thank you, you too.‘‘ Said the clerk as Oastin was leaving through the door.
The sunshine hit his face first and as he got used to the brightness, he threw the dirty medallion into his backpack. The cleaning could wait. Walking by a craft‘s store, he went in and picked up some drawing paper, new pencils and some rulers for his assignment. As he was walking to his apartment, one of his group mates, Hector, texted him that they should meet up tomorrow to hang out and catch up. He had known Hector from the first year in middle school and it so happened that they attended the same university, but he picked a different degree, one in IT, and he was killing it, gaining various scholarships and awards. Oastin was kind of jealous of him, as Hector had known what he wants to do with his life from early on, creating various little mods for popular block game at the time they were still in the middle school to creating whole new games in high school, of course they were simple, but the action still counts. Still, Oastin was happy for his friend, as he did not have that many of them. He preferred his solitude when exploring various fantasy worlds in whatever format they came, be it anime, manga or novels on the internet.
Doing the usual routine as he opened a pack of ramen and put the kettle to boil, Oastin remembered about the medallion that he picked up, so he went to grab it. As he spotted it in his backpack, he tried to grab it and it shocked him yet again! What in the world is going on? I mean I do have a cotton sweater on, maybe I got charged up or something. Still, that kind of hurt, better get you clean so I can verify that you are indeed worth the ten euros I spent on you!
Getting it clean was easier said than done. As he was putting various degreasers on it, scrubbing it and washing it off under running water from the sink, the stains got lifted only little by little after every cycle. Oastin Coates may be known for his lonesome personality, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have other qualities that defined him. That is, he was determined when he started. Focused. Some of his friends used to say he had ADHD, but his parents said that was nonsense. By the time he finished cleaning the medallion, his coffee and ramen were cold, but he had a big grin on his face. I think I hit the jackpot! He quickly grabbed some string he had laying around his desk, put it through one of the holes and marveled at it’s intricate beauty.
The medallion was more like a necklace as he put the string on it. The more he gazed into it, the bigger his grin got. The golden motifs, the circular slots that looked like they were shinning from deep inside, the indentations and that middle section... it was just so beautiful. Taking his phone out and taking a picture of this gorgeous thing, he sent it to his parents. I think I may finally understand why my parents loved restoring old things so much, if every once in a while you stumble upon such beauty made by human hands, it feels so freaking good!
Taking out his phone, he took a quick picture from the best angle and sent it to his parents. They will absolutely love it when they see that I found it for 10 euros. Jackpot! Calming down a little, Oastin put the necklace around his neck and looked in the mirror. Damm, who’s this dashing young lad, huh? I think I will wear this everyday from now on, it just looks so cool.
Eating the cold ramen and drinking some of the room temperature coffee, Oastin set out to do his University work, or he tried to until his phone ringed. It was his dad calling.
‘’Yes, dad?’’
‘’Hey, just saw the picture you sent mom, that thing looks ridiculous, where did you get it?’’
‘’At the antique store near me, what do you mean it looks ridiculous? It’s absolutely cool!’’
‘’That dirty thing? It looks like a metal piece was cut off from a junkyard and then smeared with oil!’’
‘’What do you mean? It sparkles with gold! And there’s this cool light refraction going inside the gems!’’
‘’Gems? What gems? It’s just a piece of scrap. Me and your mom are concerned Oastin, maybe the workload from the university is too big for you? You can always come home to us you know, learn carpentry from me, help mom with the house.’’
‘’D-dad what are you talking about, Uni’s fine, and no I’m not coming back after what Reyah did to me, plus, I don’t know what you mean by scrap, it’s the finest piece of jewellery I have ever seen!’’
‘’I can understand that Reyah hurt you pretty badly son, but you are making zero sense right now arguing about a literal piece of garbage. Have you been drinking Oastin?’’
‘’N-no?’’
‘’Call me tomorrow when you sober up, and don’t put that piece of scrap on your neck, you don’t know what kind of diseases you could catch if it cut you.’’
Oastin’s dad hanged up the phone before Oastin could mutter anything. What do you mean sober up!? My workload is too hard!? Come back home and throw my degree away?! I JUST SENT THEM A PICTURE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I WITNESSED IN THE WHOLE YEAR, and they, they just went and said that it’s garbage? As Oastin was fuming with rage that he rarely felt, memories of last year started coming back, his trust, broken. His friends, gone. He wanted to distance himself as far away from that place as he could, but right now it felt as if he was reliving those moments that hurt him so bad. As Oastin was pacing back and forth, wanting to strangle somebody, he didn’t notice that the medallion's outer rim gems started shining more and more, as if feeding from his outburst. The increasing brightness sucked the rage out of him and as he finally caught a glimpse of the gems in his sudden calmness, the bright light turned into a multicoloured flash bang, much like one of those from old shooter games, but instead of turning his screen white, it enveloped his whole room and then… there was darkness.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
---X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X---
Oastin woke up quite quickly if anyone were to guess what he just went through. It was as if he was waking from a long dream, too sleepy to open his eyes up, but aware enough to have thoughts. Why does everything hurt? But my bed is sooo comfy… I think… I will just sleep in… As he was going back to the dream land, he heard birds chirping all around him, a soft gushing sound of water quietly flowing, the wind rustling the leaves, the sun shining on his face… it honestly felt amazing just laying there…so peaceful…until a single thought sobered him up. Since when can you hear a river in Roshterverk? Oastin rolled on his side so it would not be so bright and finally opened his eyes. Drawing in as much as air as he could, Oastin just stared.
The view in front of him was nothing like that of the gloomy town of Roshterverk. No, it was one of a forest. He was in the forest. What the hell am I doing in a forest! Where even am I!? Straining his hurting muscles, Oastin stood up and with mixed bucket of emotions, just stood there and watched, trying to process what just happened. Is this the TV shows where they prank random people? Am I being pranked right now?
‘’It’s really funny guys, you can come out now! You all really scared me! I hope you got a good angle of my face though!’’
No response after waiting for a whole minute. Is this not TV? What the hell are these plants then, I have never seen anything like this in my whole life and I have been to several botanical gardens with Reyah. Various plants reflected the sun’s rays with green, yellow, purple and pink colors, moss covered everything, from the lowest root and rock, to the highest tree top, crystal clear water slowly flowed in between the roots of these massive trees. Oastin saw movement by the water and was stunned. Does that rabbit have 3 horns? Am I hallucinating? Have I gone into coma or something? But this pain is too real. Think Oastin, think, what do you remember before waking up. I was in my room, talking to my dad… when I got mad… and… the medallion shined really bright? The medallion, right. Lowering his gaze to the necklace he had on, he was met with a sight of a dull medallion, without any shine to it. One idea quickly popped into his head and got stronger every second he looked into the medallion. Did I… teleport to another world? Secret realm? Different dimension? Like the novels I read? No, I cannot be sure, but these plants look otherworldly enough for me. And that medallion, was it some long lost treasure? Letting the idea sink in as he looked all around him, he was sure about it. I transmigrated, didn’t I? Or did I get Isekai’d? I mean it doesn’t feel like I died, only my muscles feel really sore. As Oastin was thinking about his situation, a glimpse of something in the border of his field of vision caught his attention. There was a blue box floating in front of him now as he focused on it. If he took his attention away from it, it drifted back to its original position of being out of the way in the corner. What is this?
Focusing more on it, the little blue box with a strange symbol on it exploded into a several big boxes, arranging themselves into a list. There was a lot of something written on it, but as much as Oastin tried to read it, he couldn’t. It was not in English or any language that he has previously seen. The letters or symbols were flowing in one part, then got rigid in another. It honestly looks like Egyptian hieroglyphs, but different. Have I gone back in time or something?
A loud rumble from his stomach distracted him from the boxes in his sight, and then he finally felt the hunger. I ate some ramen just before my dad called, why am I so hungry? The hunger he felt grew in seconds as he focused on it and Oastin felt really weak all of the sudden. It’s like I went two whole days without food, what the hell! I can think about what happened later, I need something to eat and drink first! And so he began slowly walking down where the water flowed. He was thinking that there would be something to eat near the water and he certainly couldn’t catch that rabbit he saw. Plus, walking downhill and not up would be far easier in his state.
---X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X---
One hour of trekking through the forest may seem not that hard, but Oastin was exhausted. The forest just went on and on, like a never ending tale, and everything started to look the same. He saw different forest creatures from afar, like boars that looked menacing with their razor sharp teeth probably eating the same rabbit he saw before, birds that had four wings instead of two flying in between the trees, insects that glowed in various colors crawling on the mossy trees. He didn’t particularly care about them right now, feeling as if a big hole was where his stomach should be.
Slowly creeping forward, he heard rustling of bushes from his left. Eye’s darting he saw something he never thought he would see in his life. An elf. An elf that had her bow drawn and pointed right into him. She looked about his height, with white as snow hair mixed in with several strands of green, deep emerald eyes and a frown on her face.
‘’Zyndaraxi vronthlunthi!! Kreltish vilmorin blorandor?!’’
‘’I can’t understand you! Oastin said and pointed to his ears.The elf’s cheeks became red and her eyes reflected the growing fury.
‘’Glimarondel chyrinqua zalthorin drigolthum blinjax!’’
Finally it clicked to Oastin that he may have just made a rude remark to this fantasy elf beauty. Throwing up his hands in front of him, he said:
‘’I’m sorry, didn’t mean to offend you! Can we relax and talk it out? You can clearly see that I’m harmless. I’m lost and I have no food nor water on me, also I’m starving, can you help your fellow humanoid?’’
At the moment he finished talking, the blue boxes from before came back straight in the middle of his sight, but this time it was only one, and surprisingly, he could read it.
The system has captured enough phonological and morphological data from user. Converting user’s sound inputs and outputs to match the current language of the realm. Please provide text samples for further fine tuning of the translation sub-system.
As Oastin read through the message, he heard a soft, melodic voice filled with fury in front of him.
‘’Tell me what you are doing in the sacred forest right now, or you shall taste the sharpness of my arrows!’’
‘’Wait, I can understand you now! I’m really in a LitRPG world!’’
As the realization hit him, Oastin began to laugh. Full unbridled grin stretched across his face. Every night, before the deep slumber took him, he wished to travel to a fantasy world, to start somewhere new, where the trauma from his home town wouldn’t follow. And now, he was here. Right in front of him stood a real elf. An elf! His parents would probably miss him, but considering that they only call him once every three months, they wouldn’t notice him being gone for a good while. That’s for the best, I’ll think about this later, what does this Elf girl want with me?
‘’I know you can understand me! I’m asking. What. Are. You. Doing. In. The. Sacred. Forest. Is this clear enough for your dumb head?’’
Still holding his hands in front of him, Oastin replied: ‘’As I was saying, I got lost, I was just in my bedroom an hour ago and now I wake up hungry and thirsty in this dammed forest-…’’
By the moment the words ‘’dammed forest’’ escaped his lips, he felt a wind gust near his head and an arrow that had just been on the elf’s bow was now solidly stuck in a tree behind him. Touching the side of his head, a warm liquid dripped on his fingers, coloring them deep red.
‘’Don’t! Insult! The! Sacred! Forest! The Mother Forest gives us respite from the elements, feeds us, clothes us and accepts us for our eternal rest. To insult her is akin to insulting the whole village of Eldenbrook!’’
‘’I’m sorry, I really didn’t know, I’m not from these lands, can’t you understand that!’’ Oastin said.
‘’And what is wrong with your ears? Why are they so round? You bleed like one of us, yet you look nothing like us! Who sent you here, was it the Shrouded Thorn Syndicate?!’’
‘’Look girl, I have nothing going on with this thorn syndicate groupies, I’m just looking for some food and water, I’m literally starving right here! And please stop shooting arrows at people you just met!’’
‘’You indeed don’t look to be from the syndicate… Your posture is not right, and your body hardly has any muscles… and that weird hair colour… What is your name, traveler?’’
‘’I’m Oastin, Oastin Coates if you want to be formal.’’
‘’Oastin… It’s an interesting name, I’m Elysia, from family Dawnswind. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the arrow, you can never be too wary of strangers in this part of the realm. You really look like crap, and your reflexes are so bad too… It’s like you couldn’t even notice my arrow. Do you want to come with me? The village elder could appraise you and there’s food there. ‘’
‘’I would love to, any more walking and my legs will fall off. ‘’ as Oastin said that, the young elf turned around and started walking. I hope it’s not too far, I think this is the weakest I have felt in my life, plus the blood dripping from my head ain’t helping. Trying to not fall behind and get lost again, Oastin tried as hard as he could to match the elf’s pace. It seems she’s not going to talk to me until seeing this village elder, which gives me time to test a theory. Focusing on a little blue box in the corner of his vision, he smiled when they popped in his view again. These were the one’s he received after waking up here, and now being able to read them, they didn’t disappoint.
Low mana…
Low mana…
…
…
Low mana…
Mana source detected, converting the sapient being’s emotions into mana.
No system detected in the individual.
In-printing the system into the soul of the individual.
Delegating new status to the sapient being: USER.
The user holds the Primordial Key, changing status: USER+.
Opening the rift to the starting location of the Key Bearer.
…
…
Insufficient mana.
Depositing the user in last known safe location.
Imprinting of the system done.
Deleting earlier prompts.
Interrupted, USER+ has access to system prompts.
Activating the system, caution is recommended, this process makes sapient creatures unconscious and gluttonous as the system converts calories for the initial start up of the mana core.
…
…
Mana core successfully activated.
High affinity to Rift magic found.
Waking the user.
I’m a fucking rift mage!
---X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X---
After an hour of no talking and following his newly acquainted elf friend, Oastin was in agony. His feet hurt, his stomach was eating itself, the dried blood on his head was not helping the situation.
‘’Excuse me, but when will we get there? My body is not suited for trekking in otherworldly forests… or any forests really.’’ he said while looking at the ground to not trip on any roots that were covering everything here. That also included not seeing what was in front of him, as he bumped into Elysia and fell on his butt.
‘’We are here’’ She said, glancing around as if looking for any predators.
Oastin stood up, but there was nothing here, just another patch of forest that all looked the same to him.
‘’Are you sure we are in the right place? There’s literally nothing here! No buildings, no walls or anything… and I don’t want to hurry you, but I really need some food in me and fast…’’ he said while glancing around, holding onto his stomach to help alleviate at least some of the pain.
‘’What do you mean walls? Buildings? Here, on the ground? You must have been the village jester to have these thoughts! Who in their right mind would ever build on the ground that floods so often to feed the trees? A madman probably!’’ Said Elysia while looking at Oastin as if he was the biggest idiot she has seen in a year.
Oastin was silently pushing down curses that he would love to throw out at her face and instead said ‘’If there’s no village here on the ground, then where is… it...’’ and then he saw. A magnificent array of houses and mansions, all shaped from the trees, high above his head.
‘’Where do they construct your houses from where you came from? It cannot be on the ground, can it?’’ She said while looking at him incredulously ‘’Well, we better get going, grab that vine and let’s go to the top, then I will bring you to meet the village elder.’’ Elysia said as she went and grabbed one of the vines dangling of a tree. She quickly made it to the half way point to the village and looked back at Oastin, who was still standing as if he saw something out of this world.
‘’But I never climbed something like this! And I probably don’t have the strength for it!’’ He shouted while walking to one of the vines nearby. It was a thick vine, comparable to his arm in thickness. Under Elysia’s watchful gaze, Oastin tried climbing it. He was slowly making it, pushing himself to the brink of his power, eyes closed, feeling proud of his achievement! He really could climb it!
‘’So, will you start climbing it or what?” a voice broke Oastin’s focus and as he opened his eyes, they were met with Elysia’s, who was standing right in front of him. He had climbed a total of a meter up this vine and that already took considerable effort on his part. Embarrassed, he lowered his legs and stood up.
‘’I don’t think I can climb it…’’ he said while lowering his eyes to the ground, but felt something tighten around his waist. Elysia had wrapped on of the vines around Oastin’s waist and was already half way done with the climb to the top.
‘’I don’t think this is a good…” shouted Oastin, but he couldn’t finish his words as he was yanked from the ground with so much force, that he let out a high pitched scream. He was plopped on hardwood flooring, one of his most hated things to this day, and looked around. There were other elves going about their business, several were looking into his direction with surprised faces, but no one got close.
‘’Come on, we need to get to the elder first.’’ Elysia said as she started walking on one of the hanging bridges. Groaning, Oastin stood up and followed her, wishing they had snacks at the elder’s house.
The houses had upper and lower layers, probably different rooms, with circular windows that had green, yellow and pink tint in them. It reminded Oastin of Cathedral windows, but rougher in texture. Calling it a village would be an understatement, this looks like one of tree house mansions! And there’s little tree houses scattered everywhere around the mansion in the middle. This really looks like a theme park one would be able to visit on earth.
After crossing six different bridges they finally reached the middle mansion. The elves were giving Oastin different looks, some were concerned, some were happy, some had poker faces, but mostly they looked worried when they saw his ears. No one came close to speak to him or Elysia and Oastin knew enough common sense when to shut up and follow his lead. All in all, the village looked peaceful, he saw three elves with bows like Elysia’s, but they were giving him a dangerous feeling, so his gaze didn’t linger on them for long.
‘’Let’s go in, the elder is waiting for us. Be respectful, she is the wisest in our village’’ said Elysia, opening the massive double doors and going in first. I followed in and was met with an invigorating smell, it felt like it made my steps stronger and more resolute. We went from one chamber to another and then it all opened up to a big circular room. A fire was calmly roaring in the middle, the blue smoke leaving through the holes in the ceiling. There were vines all around the walls and ceiling, but these ones were not so thick as they also had flowers sprouting from the vine body. Everything was mostly made from wood, furniture, walls, the floor, but it was as if it was molded to have that specific shape. I think I saw something like this on that bonsai documentary, where they had tied up the branches with wire so that the sapling would grow into the required shape and direction.
‘’Village elder, I bring to you a guest from far away land. He asks for our help as he is starved and without a bed. He also doesn’t look like us and I didn’t understand him the first time I spoke to him.” said Elysia, motioning to me with her slender hand. Who is she speaking to, I cannot see anybody here?
A deep, feminine voice resounded through the room ‘’A guest, a far away land traveler to add. Starved and without a bed to rest. Bring him to me, I want to see him.”. Elysia looked at me as if I didn’t deserve to be seen by this village elder, but what did I know, I could only follow her as I had nothing here. Going through a door on the other side of the room we came into a smaller room with a balcony, a small elf sitting on a rocking chair and smoking something out of a pipe. Probably not tobacco as she was spewing green smoke out of her nose. Her face was more wrinkles than skin, hair and eyebrows gray, but her eyes were deep emerald colour and sparkling with intelligence.
‘’Ohoho…A traveler indeed. Not an ordinary elf too, what does your people call themselves?” the elder said.
‘’Ah.. Hi, yes we are not elves, we are called humans, have you met any?”
The elder coughed up the smoke and said “Humans? Impossible… I saw texts of these so called humans mentioned when I was young and studying in the capital. They should all be stuck in other realms after the Advent of the System. What is your name, human?”
“I’m Oastin Coates, what would be yours miss elder?” he said, trying to be as respectful as he can be. He didn’t want to be made into a lab rat or something else horrifying.
“Oastin Coates… your name is truly too peculiar to be of elvish heritage. I am Loriel Moonwhisper. How come you have visited our sacred forest?”
“Well… I was in my home… arguing with my parents, and then this blinding light appeared and I woke up in your sacred forest. I was extremely hungry after waking up, so I went to look for some berries or something to eat, but I met Elysia.”
“Hmm… It sounds as if you awakened your system, normally us elves go through that when we are 13 cycles old, but that would match with your hunger. Now that I think about it, Elysia mentioned that she didn’t understand you at first, I have heard a story on that at the capital that the first living beings granted system powers spoke many different tongues, and after the Advent of the System everyone could understand each other, well that was before the world was shattered. Have you seen any system texts in your eyes, young one?” said the Elder, curiosity clear in her eyes.
“Yeah, I think so, there were many texts, at the beginning I couldn’t read them, but after speaking with Elysia it translated into my language. The texts mentioned I had the system imprinted or something and many other things, but after I read them they were gone.” I said, not mentioning anything about having Primordial Key, as I felt that would bring bad people to me.
“Hohoho… Interesting, a far away traveler being granted the system. What is mentioned in your status?” the elder said while smiling.
“My status? What is that?” Can it really be like those LitRPG stories I love to read? But why does the elder’s smile creep me out? Looking at Elysia I saw that she was standing to the side uncomfortably. Okay, I think I may be in big trouble here.
“Your status is a culmination of what you are. It shows everything that you are and gives you a path to move forward to. If you haven’t yet checked it, you simply need to think ‘status’ and it shall appear before your eyes. No one can see your own status but you, so you can tell me what you see.” said the elder, giving me the widest and creepiest smile I have ever seen from an old person. I still focused and mentally called out ‘status’.
Displaying user status:
Name: Oastin Coates
Race: Human (Otherworldly)
Class: Rift Mage
Level: 1
Experience: 0/100
Strength: 3 (physical power)
Agility: 4 (speed, flexibility, reflexes)
Intelligence: 9 (problem-solving, magical aptitude)
Wisdom: 7 (judgment, perceptiveness)
Charisma: 5 (social interaction, leadership)
Endurance: 3 (stamina, ability to withstand physical and magical exertion)
Luck: 73 (affects chance occurrences)
I am really in a LitRPG story!!