Three hours later, server maintenance ended, dropping me in the middle of the Deep Woods where I had last left off. No longer was I a wisp of red smoke, but the normal version of myself. With arms, and legs, and opposable thumbs.

Yet something seemed different about the woods. It seemed… colder. I could actually feel a wind gusting against my skin, and not just the sound file of it that kept looping throughout the area.

I rubbed my arm, feeling the goosebumps on my skin and the warmth radiating from my palm. I then slid my hand against the png of the forest floor, only to find that it was no longer a png, but individual leaves. I could feel the rough dampness of the dirt below my fingers, and could feel the edges of every single leaf.

“You’re back!” I raised my head to see Rue coming towards me. There was a smile on his face, and a pile of red-gold cloth in his hands.

Right. I shook myself out of my stupor. The boss fight.

“Where’s the Ghoul of Samhain?” I sprang up and equipped Sorrow, preparing myself to be pummelled by a barrage of leaves.

But the woods remained silent, no sign of the boss anywhere.

“I’ve defeated her,” Rue smiled, looking pleased with himself.

“Already?”

“Well, you disconnected for quite a long while during server maintenance,” he said sheepishly. “I thought to finish her off myself instead of waiting around. She left behind a Stain of Autumn Gold this time. I hope it helps…”

“Oh. Yeah, it does,” I relaxed, taking the cloth from his waiting hands. “You sure I can have this?”

“Of course,” Rue replied. “I have no use for it.”

“Thanks a bunch, then,” I tossed it into my inventory.

As stoked as I would have been to have actually gotten my hands on an S tier craftable, I had more pressing matters that caught my attention.

“By the way, what’s with the new sensations?” I asked Rue. “I just came back from server maintenance and all of a sudden my sense of touch is back.”

Rue stared at me, puzzled.

“What do you mean? It’s always been like this.”

Huh?

***

Something wasn’t adding up. I thought to myself as I returned to the Capital with Rue, delivering my new Stain of Autumn Gold to someone who could turn it into something equippable. While you could say that regaining my sense of touch was a subjective thing, the pngs of the forest floor turning into real leaves was not. Yet Rue had said that it had always been that way. Unless I was going crazy, that could not be true.

I’d checked the in game announcements for an explanation, or at least a comfort that I was not losing my mind. Luckily enough, I managed to find something to confirm my experience.

Right there in the update notice, under latest updates:

Implemented pain and touch features.

Replaced placeholder pngs with physical models.

There it was, written in print. Probably looked really odd to the regular player who decided to read the patch update notice, but it made perfect sense to me.

That confirmed that I wasn’t imagining it. Sort of. The question was why Rue didn’t seem to notice the difference.

Maybe the NPCs had all their senses implemented already? Maybe it was weird other world shenanigans? Who knew?

I decided to shelve the matter away for later as we approached the gates of the Capital. Standing there in front of the gates with their arms crossed were two familiar faces.

Marge and Trix.

I hustled forwards, eager to tell them about my new findings during server maintenance.

Rue, however, stopped dead in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, slowing to a halt. I turned back to look at him.

“I believe this is where our collaboration comes to an end,” he muttered, his red eyes shifting around nervously. “You go on ahead.”

“You’re not comfortable around them?” I gestured to the pair. They seemed to be engrossed in a heated discussion, and hadn’t noticed us yet. “I mean, that’s okay. We can go somewhere else first. My level is high enough for the Lakes of Luna now.”

“No… no. It’s quite alright,” Rue shook his head, backing away. “I’ll… just get going.”

Before I could say anything, he once again disappeared in a puff of black smoke, this time, probably for good.

I hoped he was okay. Despite all the suspicion at the start there, he’d really started to grow on me.

Well, either way, I had a big discovery to tell Marge. I made my way over to the two, thinking about how I was going to break the news to them.

“—terrible update. Half my scouts are dropping out from fighting bosses,” I heard snippets of their conversation as I drew closer. “It’s not that their combat proficiency went down, they’re just afraid of the pain.”

“This is a huge nerf for us,” Marge muttered. “Is the system trying to hold us back… Oh, Luck. Hello.”

“Hi Marge, Trix,” I nodded to both of them.

“How did your first server maintenance go?” Trix asked. “Strange, wasn’t it?”

“Very,” I agreed. “So strange that I might have gotten inspiration on how to get out of here.”

“You do?” Marge raised her eyebrows. “Care to enlighten us?”

I briefly summarised my experiences during server maintenance, telling them about how I met the boy, was launched into the fourth dimension, and nearly managed to escape before I was stopped.

Marge… did not seem impressed.

“So you’re telling me that this is actually all a dream, just someone else’s dream. And that we, like them, can make worlds when we sleep?” Marge repeated incredulously.

“That’s an interesting story,” Trix remarked, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. “I have heard of other Chosen Ones seeing things during server maintenance, but none of them said anything about Dreamers.”

“You’re not making this up?” Marge eyed me sceptically. “It sounds a bit far-fetched to me. I mean, the idea that we’ve had magic this whole time and no one’s been aware of it? That doesn’t seem right.”

“I swear I’m telling the truth,” I told them. “There was a kid in the void, he did something, and I was able to see the offshoot world we are in. Saw the world we came from too, just couldn’t reach it.”

“Is there any way you could demonstrate?” Trix gestured. “Show us how you projected yourself into the astral plane, or whatever that was?”

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“Well… I’m not sure I can do it without help.”

Marge and Trix exchanged a glance.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about it if you don’t know how to reproduce it,” Marge remarked. “But a lead is a lead. I’d suggest you keep trying at it, see if you can get it to work again. If you manage to prove that it does work, we can start focusing our efforts in that direction.”

“I’ll ask around the other Chosen Ones,” said Trix. “See if they’ve experienced or heard of something similar.”

“Thanks Trix,” Marge said. “Once you’re done with that, don’t forget to bring Luck through the Fortress of Ruin event before it ends.”

“Oh right! The Fortress of Ruin!” I’d forgotten about that. “Are you sure I’m high level enough for that?”

“What’s your Level right now?” Trix asked.

“Around Level 30.”

“That’s a bit low, but still workable,” Trix murmured. “If you follow along with the team, it should be no problem as long as you don’t go charging into danger.”

“Maybe clear the Lakes of Luna first before you set off,” Marge added. “You have Compensation, right? In that case, the quest should give you a few more levels than usual.”

“Yep, sounds like a plan,” I nodded.

“Well, I’ll be off to question the boys,” Trix waved and began walking off towards the Guild Hall. “Drop me a dm when you’re ready for the Fortress of Ruin, Luck.”

“Got it,” I turned to Marge. “And I’ll let you know if I have any progress on the magic thing.”

Marge nodded.

With the conversation over, I headed to the second floor of the Great Oak. Since I didn’t have any crafting skills, I needed someone else to help me convert my Stain of Autumn Gold into a wearable piece of equipment.

I passed by the blacksmith and sauntered into Poppy’s boutique, pulling the golden leaf patterned cloth out of my Inventory as I went.

The seamstress was standing behind the counter as always, in that rigid pose that NPCs often took on in Briarwood Rebirth. Unlike in the game, however, she was reading a book instead of staring blankly into the wall.

“Hi, Poppy!” I called, and she closed her book to look up at me.

“Greetings, Chosen One,” she adjusted her round rimmed glasses. “How can I help you today?”

“I’d like you to craft this into a coat, please,” I placed the piece of cloth on the counter. “Briar Elf form, if you will.”

Poppy frowned.

“Are you sure, sir? You could have a Kobold Class Bonus if I turned this into a vest instead.”

“Very sure, I need the coat’s perk more.”

“Alright then,” Poppy nodded hesitantly.

I paid the gold she requested, and she took the cloth into the back. It was a hefty sum, but nothing I couldn’t afford.

As I waited, I ran over the information I’d gotten so far in my head. It made sense that Marge and Trix were hesitant about believing me. In fact, I wouldn’t believe myself if I heard that kind of story. But what the kid had shown me had felt real. The power that had run through my senses had felt natural too, like a sixth sense that was always there.

Supposing the world we were in was indeed an offshoot world. One so close to the main world that I could almost touch it. As long as we could break through the barrier trapping us here, the Chosen Ones might be able to escape. If I managed to harness this magic the kid said I had, and teach it to the others, we could very well have a chance.

The issue was with the timer in the sky. No matter what the “disconnect” was referring to, I assumed that we were on a time limit. 230 days left. Whether that was referring to ingame days or real world days, I had no idea. Either way, we couldn’t afford to dally for much longer.

“Here you go, sir. One Stain of Autumn Gold, coat form.”

Poppy emerged from the back room with a piece of cloth neatly folded under her arm, and presented it to me. I put my thoughts away for the moment to check out my new equipment.

Unfurling the cloth revealed a nicely tailored, red, trench coat, with a high collar and golden trimmings. It was decorated with maple leaves, stains of gold upon the red cloth. I equipped the trench coat and inspected it.

Stain of Autumn Gold (S)

Coat form

MP + 10

Fire Resistance

Flame Damage increased by 200%

Coat form bonus: MP cap increased by 200%

No Class Bonus

A stain of autumn upon the world.

“This is perfect, thank you, Poppy!” I grinned, feeling the smooth, silk-like texture of the cloth under my fingers.

“My pleasure,” Poppy bowed as I left the shop.

Now that that was settled, it was on to my next order of business. The magic. I clambered up to the top of the Great Oak and sat down on its branches.

How had the kid done it back then? Was it a feeling somewhere inside the gut that went up? I metaphorically groped around at my insides.

I recalled the memory of the feeling and tried to find a match somewhere inside of me. To my surprise, I actually found something there, a little sliver of sensation sitting deep inside.

I prodded it lightly. It wobbled a bit before stabilising. Pushing it from side to side resulted in it sliding around in the metaphorical pit in my stomach.

Getting more confident, I tried tugging at it, but it had the consistency of water. No matter how I tried to get a solid grip, it would slither out of my grasp and return to wobbling around in my gut like a slimy, amorphous blob.

I made a few more attempts to pull it up before I decided that my approach was probably wrong. I could move it, but I couldn’t raise it. Not like the kid had done.

If I couldn’t grab it, maybe I could guide it?

But that begged another question. How could I guide it? I didn’t have the kid’s presence helping me out anymore.

Maybe meditation?

I settled into a cross legged stance on the branch, and rested my hands atop my knees. I wasn’t really sure how this meditation thing worked, since I’d never really taken yoga back in the other world, but according to the documentaries, this was how you did it, right?

I tried to focus on my breathing, only to discover that I wasn’t breathing. That itself sparked a mini crisis, that I eventually resolved by chalking it up to offshoot world shenanigans.

Without any breathing to focus on, I turned to the next best thing. I focused on the environment around me, on my new sensations. The cool breeze that wafted through my hair was refreshing, the rough bark of the branch underneath me providing something to run my fingers over as I thought.

I let out a hypothetical breath, and turned inwards.

Move.

…

Sadly, nothing happened.

I let out a shout of frustration and leaned backwards against the branch.

What was I missing? I’d found the potential catalyst for the magic, I just didn’t seem to be able to coax it to action. I replayed the scenario in my head.

The boy had appeared out of the darkness, and told me a bunch of vague stuff about the worlds. Then he had taught me how to do it myself.

First, the boy had told me to open my eyes. Then, he’d guided the feeling upwards. Then, I’d opened my metaphorical eyes and saw the void between the worlds.

That was when the realisation hit me.

Was it the opening my eyes part?

I settled back on the branch in a proper sitting position, and closed my eyes. I focused on the feeling inside my gut. I could sort of sense it, the general shape of it at least. Like a blob of slime, it slid back and forth across my insides.

“Open your eyes,” I repeated, trying to use my intent to hoist the feeling upwards. “Open your eyes.”

Slowly, a pimple appeared in the feeling, which then swelled into a small hill. The hill grew in height, while the edges of the blob receded into the hill to feed its growth. The feeling was pinched upwards like a thin piece of cloth. Slowly, slowly, it advanced upwards through my chest, sending a warm, tingling feeling through my limbs.

It was working.

“Open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes,” I murmured to myself.

The feeling continued on its lazy spiral upwards, travelling through my throat and into my skull. There, it seemed to condense near my forehead, growing hotter and hotter by the second.

Then my flesh was set ablaze.

“ARGH!”

My concentration dropped, and the feeling plummeted back down into the depths of my gut. I opened my eyes and patted the burnt spot on my forehead, to find that I wasn’t actually on fire.

I let out another shout, half out of success and half out of frustration.

I did… something. If not for the burn I might have broken through. I repeated the process again, but this time, the feeling sat solidly in my gut, not seeming to budge all that much.

But a success was a success, no matter how many failures happened after it. At least now, I knew that magic might actually be an attainable goal. I decided to celebrate my victory with a break. According to the clock in my inventory, I’d already spent two hours just sitting on this branch, trying to bend the feeling to my will.

So I stood up and went to look for Rosa to claim my story quest.

Time to tackle the Lakes of Luna.