After walking along the outskirts of town for a while Gary found a new hunting ground that looked right for him. Not to many slimes and no players.

What could that odd bug be with my legs? Some kind of debuff cast by those players? It was like my whole body became lighter, but some parts more than others. It would be an odd attack because I could see myself getting good at moving like that with practice.

One side of the town was wide open plains where everyone had spawned the first time. There was nothing that way. The other side had a light forests with slimes. The trees were kind of round and bushy with red leaves. Almost like a nicely trimmed hedge, but with red oak leaves.

The wind was blowing Gary's hair lightly and he could smell the fresh damp air from the forest. Even the slimes, with colorful jelly bodies and alien orbs inside, looked somehow natural and real. The idea of testing his strength and skill against a monster made Gary's heart pound.

The only thing off about the whole scene was the land. It was totally flat except for the trees and some large rocks, but in the distance there was gradually deeper, darker forest with harsher terrain.

Perfect for physical training? It's almost like this game is begging me to test this body and see what I can do with it and how far I can go. Alright game. Let's see how far I can go and how much you have to show me.

Gary stepped forward. A far too wide step almost like he was doing the splits. He dragged his leg back carefully so the slime wouldn't come to him.

No one saw that right? Good. Now I'll just wait here a moment try again when it's safe. I wonder if it's static in whatever machine I'm hooked up to. Maybe if I wait a while.

After a moment Gary put his foot forward a little to test the issue. It ended up way up in the air.

I guess a little longer... As long as I'm waiting I might as well learn my way around the menus of this game.

Main Menu: Stats Classes Tasks Equipment Chat Help

I guess the most important thing to check is my stats. I lost some hit points in the fight. How much do I have anyway?

Name: Gary_Forhan Hit Points:

89/100 Magical Energy:

100/100 Stamina: 43/100 Strength: 1 Agility: 1 Fortitude: 1 Memory: 1 Focus: 1 Reaction: 1 Fashion: 1 Acting: 1 Empathy: 1 Experience Stonesmith: 0% Experience Knifejuggler: 3% Experience Shadowedger: 10%

Not too many HP missing, but that's not much stamina left. I guess the game counts me running around and fighting as using that. I guess I need more physical stats. Maybe Fortitude. I guess the next three are mental stats, but what is with the last three stats?

Well, I won't figure it out myself. Maybe I can ask someone. Maybe it's another joke option like my stupid Stonesmith class.

Makes sense I would get some experience in my Knifejuggler class because I was using knives, but what's with all the EXP in Shadowedger? I guess it is always on. Maybe the game counted me as hiding from monsters in town?

I'm not getting anywhere like this...

Gary stuck his foot forward again. This time he controlled it better, but the problem was still there.

Dang it! Come on!

The lush flat forest under the spattered shadows from the trees called for him. "Explore me. Play," he could almost hear the game saying. He really wanted to forget all his problems and run in. Fight and challenge himself, but he didn't want to make a fool of himself again.

...Well, I guess I can move on and try to fix this useless class.

Classes: Search [ ] Stonesmith:

Remove class: Cooldown 7Days Experience: 0% Permanancy: 0%

Knifejuggler:

Remove class: Cooldown 7Days Experience: 3% Permanancy: 0%

Shadowedger:

Remove class: Cooldown 7Days Experience: 10% Permanancy: 0%

"WHAT!?" Gary yelled aloud. Then he blushed and checked to be sure there was still no one around to hear him yelling.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I have to wait 7 more days to change my classes? What is with this broken game and these stupid rules!?

Out of frustration Gary kicked his foot out to check how well he could move his body, but the problem caused him to flip in the air. His body moved faster than he expected and he caught himself with his hands and rolled upright.

Ack! whew. Didn't land on my face that time. Actually this isn't so bad. Maybe I can just play like this.

Gary pulled his dagger out in wild exaggerated motions and stumbled to the slime.

I beat a player with a bow. How hard can you be?

The green-yellow slime stopped rolling randomly and eating leaves as Gary came near, then shrank into a tiny ball. When he finally stumbled close enough it sprang at his face.

Gary moved to shield his eyes, but the gut reaction left him putting too much power into his move and he spun all the way around. He felt -5 HP at the back of his head with a wet heavy splat.

It took everything Gary had not to lose his balance and fall again.

Why is it so hard to move now!?

"What is that guy doing?" An unfamiliar voice said.

"I don't know. Maybe some odd class?" Came another voice in the same direction.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NOT NOW!

Gary didn't dare turn to them. He just reached back and tried to grab the slime, but with the added pressure of an audience he lost all the skill and ability he was getting and just ended up punching the slime. It didn't do much to soften the punch to the back of his head -10 HP.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Gary slowly felt around in the slime and found the orb and pulled it off his head.

"Oh? Can you hold slimes that way?" One of them said.

"I didn't know. Let's watch for a while more!" the other shouted with excitement.

Gary wobbled for a moment while getting his arm in position.

Don't you dare fall down now, you dang idiot! You can't let them see how stupid and useless you are!

-5 HP came from his slime covered hand. He didn't let it stop him. He put all his weird jittery power into throwing the slime as hard as possible into the ground.

It was too much and he felt himself tip forward after the slime. He used his other hand to break his fall, but it was still too much so he ended with a roll.

Gary felt something squish under him, but he didn't realize it was the slime core.

"WOW! Ha ha ha ha!" "Yeah! Do another!" they both said.

Gary whipped around with a small wobble "Don't you have anything better to do?! You think acting that way makes you cool?!" he yelled at them.

The one in the front that Gary was looking at looked a little stunned for a moment "Pft... HA HA HA HA!" Her face turned red and she bent over laughing.

Gary pause for a moment as he took them in. This was the first time he saw different clothing. They each had a short wand with a floating orb, but the type of stone differed. They also had matching dirty robes and matching pouches tied to their waists.

"Did you max acting for that performance? That was super sparkles! How much for another? I have healing potions if you need them." The other wiped tears from her eyes.

"Huh?" Gary was never good at dealing with people. Then he remembered he was probably at least 100 years older then them.

"Are you some kind of ancient acrobat performer class? I want to make a class like that. It looks spa... COOL. HA HA HA!"

Gary blushed.

I don't want to tell them my awful class picks. Wait. I'm some kind of clown to you?

Friend request from player Blow_Uppity⁹

Friend request from player Meanstary-[y]

"Sorry. I'm done for today," Gary said, and did his best to walk normally out of the forest despite the problems controlling his body and giggles from them.

"At least tell me your classes. How many points in acting agility do you have? You must be high level!" Blow_Uppity⁹ asked him.

Gary didn't want to say something else that would encourage them. The two girls waited a bit as Gary stopped mid stride.

"What's he doing now?" Meanstary-[y] said with some mild excitement, clearly still waiting for something funny.

Wait a sec. When I came back to town I started moving normally again. Come to think of it happened exactly at this spot before. That's It! The bug must be related to loading issue, but I don't want to test it with them around.

Gary walked twords the buildings with care in case a new loading zone was near.

"Aw. I guess he really is done. Let's go back to hunting Fire Tortoises," Blow_Uppity⁹ sighed.

"No." Meanstary-[y] started. Gary's heart sank with the fear that they would stay," They are too easy now. Anyway we are getting way behind the wave. If we are going to catch up we better skip a zone."

Gary let out a relieved sigh of virtual air he had been holding in. Oddly the relief of breathing in new air still hit him.

"Yeah. We aren't the best players. Just give up the wave and play for fun!" Blow_Uppity⁹ cheerfully said as the two of them walked away.

As soon as they left Gary stuck his hand forward to test his idea. Sure enough he could feel that same jittery feeling from all of his body. Interestingly, it happened exactly where the shadows of the building started.

Wait a minute... Shadows... It's because of the shadows!

After experimenting for about half an hour he started to get a really good feel for the rules of his problem.

Rule 1: When I'm in a shadow my whole body goes much faster. Rule 2: The part of my body in the light is also much stronger in addition to being faster. The worst place I can think of for this is under the spattered shade of leaves in a forest. I guess I will have to find some other place to level up.

Gary took a stroll around the town watching some of the NPCs doing weird robotically fast movements when they didn't think anyone was looking. He found them really interesting, but a little scary.

On the other side of town he found a NPC guarding a cave leading down into the stone below. The flickering torches made the dark stalagmites dance with a hint of danger.

Not many shadows in a cave, right?

"Halt! The granite cave is closed due to a goblin infestation!" the guard stiffly said.

Gary opened his mouth to reply, but remembered how relived the other NPC was when he was allowed to be himself.

Should I say something about him being an NPC?

"You are an NPC, right? You can drop the act." Gary mumbled as he started to worry that someone would make fun of him again. "...If you want."

The guard's eyes locked on to Gary for two long seconds before he flashed a robotic smile. "Thank you. Not many players take a big interest in us, but I find my role relaxing for the most part," he said in a voice a little too fast.

"There's a quest here to kill goblins and maybe more. You don't have to finish the quest to mine the stone, but once you are done, you can mine without interference," the AI rattled off before a small pause and looking Gary in the eye "It's more of an emersion quest for role players and might not interest someone like you."

Someone like me? Because I asked him to drop the act?

"I'm very interested in the game's story and I would like to see it all. Thank you for your help," Gary told the guard.

He smiled a bit more, to the point it was a little creepy. "You are most welcome adventurer! But move silently and avoid dark corners! Goblins might be weak, but they ambush," the guard enthusiastically said in that somewhat robotic voice.

Gary stepped to the threshold of the cave, exactly where the shadow fell, and took in a deep breath.

Here I come. This is where I get strong and make them all eat their words!