Morgan awoke, on his back, looking up at a clear blue sky through a gap in the forest canopy. Groggily, he blinked a few times, but the view didn't change. He pushed himself up to a sitting position with a start, the scene catching him totally by surprise. First, the weird dream, and now this. He looked around. He was in a glade in a thick forest, the bushes and trees thick around the clearing. A pathway led into the forest in front of him.
Unsteadily, he got to his feet and brushed dust off his clothing. It felt unfamiliar, and he examined the fabric on his arm. He was now wearing some kind of homespun fabric peasant clothes, like he'd seen in a few of the videos. It must come as standard for new players, he reasoned. This thought reminded him, like a shock to his brain, that he was now in a game world.
He looked around some more. It was so very real. He bent down and picked up an egg sized stone from the mossy ground and hefted it in his hand, admiring the feel of his hand on the cool stone. It was heavier than it looked, and he tossed it into the air and caught it, the rock landing in his hand with a satisfying thwack. Satisfied with this small test, he lobbed the rock at one of the trees surrounding the clearing. He frowned slightly as he missed entirely, the projectile disappearing noisily into one of the nearby shrubs. Shrugging at the miss, he started to walk towards the path, focusing on feeling his muscles move. It felt more real than reality had.
He'd really felt the rock and had felt the impact on his hand. He pinched himself hard as he walked along. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it should have, but it did hurt. He probably wasn’t dreaming, then.
His mind boggled as he slowly traversed the track, appreciating the rich colours of the vegetation and the streaks of light filtering down through the canopy to dapple on the dusty ground. Sure, he’d seen trees before, but not many, never a wood or a forest, and certainly none this healthy and vibrant. A butterfly of green and gold flew across his path through the sunlit motes of dust, and he gaped at it until it disappeared into the thick foliage. Wonder flowed through him as he appreciated this new environment. The sky was so blue and clear, lacking the ever-present fog and gloom that consumed his own life in the sixth district.
He could feel the bumps and stones of the path beneath his thin canvas shoes as he walked along the winding path. After a few minutes of walking the path led him to a huge tree, a tree as big as the redwoods he'd heard about, perhaps bigger still. It was twice as big as the surrounding forest, its trunk shot so high up the air, he could barely see the canopy. Its massive roots pierced the ground in graceful arcs, and the path led to one of these organic ramps, from which Morgan could spot the framework for steps to ascend the giant tree.
He stopped where the path met the root and looked up at the tree in awe. It was so big; he could barely see the crown. His gaze returned to the stairs leading up the tree. He wasn't afraid of heights, as such, just not the biggest fan; it was a sensible fear. He followed the root up, to find the stairs looked even more rickety up close than from afar. With a heavy sigh he started up the steps, which each creaked more ominously than the last as he applied his weight.
He paused when he breached the treeline of the majority of the forest, clutching a warped railing as he surveyed the glorious expanse around him. Then he made the mistake of looking down. He was easily over 50 meters up, suddenly clinging tightly to the framework steps haphazardly nailed into the rough bark of the tree.
He took a moment to breathe deeply and was surprised at how easy it was now. He was in far better condition now than the weak husk he'd left behind just minutes ago, and he didn't think that even at his athletic peak he could have climbed so far while barely breaking a sweat. He could feel the climb in his legs and would have to rest at the top for sure, but his breathing was hardly affected.
The cool forest air tasted crisp and clean, and he took a moment to enjoy the sensation in his virtual body. He'd lived on the outskirts of a factory city for his whole life, and air as fresh as this was a luxury only for those who could afford to buy it.
He refocused on his climb, the musical creaking of the wood accompanying him up. The stair took him to a ring of well-cut lumber forming a platform that surrounded the trunk of the tree below the upper canopy. After scrambling up the final steps he was reassured to feel that the platform felt a lot more stable than the way up, and saw it had a solid looking railing around the edge at waist height. He sat against the trunk for a moment. The climb, while easier than it should have been, had definitely taken the wind out of him.
After resting his legs and catching his breath for a second, he very slowly walked to the edge of the platform and clutched the railing, looking down upon the land and slowly walking the perimeter of the platform. The sun had risen well over the mountains, their snow-capped tips rising in the sky to the East. The forest sprawled north and south, to the north it came to a stop as it came up against a large black wall that stretched across the land as far as he could see, the scant land he could see past it was arid and bare. In the south, the forest was fenced in by the agricultural lands of what looked to be a large port city nestled on the coast. The quickest way out of the forest, by the look of it, was to head west, where he could see a small village as the landscape turned from the forest into meadowed hills.
"Hello Morgan." A voice like a soft breeze whispered from behind him. He spun around, almost losing his footing, and his surprised glare turned to stunned shock when he saw the deliverer of the greeting. A small, translucent spirit creature floated by the trunk of the tree, hovering at about head height. The spirit was a lightly glowing sphere, with a distinct protruding eye-orb. Morgan sputtered and stammered at the creature, still clinging tightly to the railing. "Hi... How... What..."
The spirit cut him off. "Greetings, outworlder. I am Oculus, and have been sent by our Lady, The Scholar, to guide you in these first moments in our land. First, I ask that you close your eyes."
Morgan stared at the translucent floating creature that claimed to be Oculus. A long moment passed, before Oculus made a noise equivalent to a cough, though he couldn't work out where on the creature the sounds were coming from. He raised an eyebrow at it and asked, slowly, "Oculus, what are you you?"
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Oculus span on his axis before resettling facing Morgan.
“I am a spirit, created by Our Lady, The Scholar to help and assist those who are new to these lands. Outworlders, like yourself.”
Morgan stared at the orb for a long moment. He’d just got here and knew very little about this world and the game it contained. The spirit claimed to know him, had probably followed him, and that was a bad sign. From his short time on the earth, he’d learned much about not trusting kindness from strangers.
He blurted out, “Can I trust you, spirit?” Before wincing at his lack of subtlety.
"Did I not say I was sent by The Scholar herself? But I assume too much of you, you are an outworlder, and know little. Yes, Morgan. You can trust me."
Morgan smiled warily at the orb. "OK, Oculus, but can I ask you a favour?"
"Perhaps; what is it you seek, outworlder?"
"Can we wait until we get out of this damn tree? I I'm having trouble processing both you and this unholy height at the same time."
Oculus span once more, and suddenly Morgan was torn away from the railing into the space away from the tree. He screamed briefly as he fell, panic and adrenaline flooding his system. As plummeted through the air, the thought flashed through him that he knew he shouldn’t have trusted a random spirit he’d just met. Almost before he’d finished the thought, his body suddenly righted itself and he sank gently onto his feet on the forest floor. Stunned, and breathing raggedly, he gaped like a fish as Oculus rapidly floated down the trunk to rest again at head height.
"What the hell, Oculus, was that! I almost died!" Morgan started to rage at the orb, fists clenched. The spirit span once more.
"You had said that you trust me, outworlder. Were you harmed in any way?"
Morgan calmed down a bit. It was probably better than walking all the way down those hellish steps at any rate. "Only my dignity." He sighed. "Sorry Oculus, but please warn me if you're going to pull a stunt like that again.
Oculus made a rocking motion, like a boat in heavy seas, and he got the feeling the spirit was laughing at him. "My apologies, outworlder. I will warn you before I pull any more stunts like that. Now, if you'd close your eyes."
Morgan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Good. Now please open them once more."
As he opened his eyes, he saw there was a text box in his vision.
[Congratulations, you have acquired the Identify skill]
[This skill allows you to reveal hidden properties of entities in the world]
As he blinked the prompt away, he noticed three coloured lines visible in the bottom left of his vision. As he tried to focus on them, they came up central in his vision. A red, then a yellow, and then a blue line, each with a number superimposed. He blinked in surprise, and the lines receded back to their corner.
"I have bestowed upon you the Ladies gift of research. All receive it when they become of age. With the colour display on the left, you can follow the depletion of your Health, Stamina and Mana, and this will be crucial to your success, so mark it well. It also allows you to see deeper into the true form of an item, artifact, and even person. Focus on an object now and say 'Identify'."
Morgan stopped chasing the bars around his vision and looked up at the orb. He held out his hand towards Oculus, and with conviction proclaimed "Identify!" before sheepishly lowering his hand. A text box appeared in his vision.
[Identify - Oculus - Level Unknown]
[Type - Spirit, light]
[Affiliations - Unknown]
[HP - Unknown]
[SP - Unknown]
[MP - Unknown]
"Thats interesting Oculus, but I'm mostly getting unknowns from you."
Oculus span around. "I am of a very high level, and you are not, so your perception is not sharp enough to pierce the veil of my information. Please try something more within your capability."
Morgan looked at his shirt and said it like he was casting a spell - "Identify!"
[Identify - Homespun Tunic - Level 1]
[Durability - 20/20]
[Defence - 0.25]
He blinked away the information and repeated the process on his trousers and shoes. His shoes were at 29/30 durability, but apart from that the stats on them were the same.
Oculus interrupted his musings towards identifying his underwear. "You should be informed, that you do not have to say identify to trigger the skill, only focus on the object and think it. Saying it first, however, is good to get you used to the skill. Also, the skill is intuitive and will try to only show you what you wish to know. If you need more information, focus on what you need."
Oculus rocked at Morgan for a moment. "I also have a second gift for you, the gift of space." as it said these words, a small satchel appeared from nowhere and thumped on to the ground next to Morgan. He bent down and picked up the satchel, examining it in his hands. It was made of the same homespun material as his clothes. "Identify"
[Identify - Homespun Satchel - Level 1]
[Soulbound Artifact]
[Durability 40/40]
[Slots - 6]
[Size - Small]
He nodded appreciatively at the satchel, before slinging it over his shoulder.
"There are two items inside, for you, otherworlder. One, is an astral crystal, capable of communication with your own world. The other, a gold coin."
Morgan nodded his thanks to the spirit. He fished around in the satchel, finding the items inside. The coin was heavy in his off hand, a weathered but pure gold. He identified it, wanting to know as much as he could.
[Identify - Gold Coin]
[Durability - 9/10]
[Small Projectile Damage - 18-42]
He noted the lesser durability. He wondered if that meant it was worth less. Also, the projectile damage stat took him by surprise. He reasoned that getting hit with a solid gold coin was no joke and put it back in his satchel. In the other hand, was the astral crystal, a multifaceted clear stone, like a diamond the size of a plum. Inside the crystal, two brightly glowing balls of blue circled each other.
[Identify - Astral Crystal]
[Soulbound Artifact]
[Use - Chant the activation phrase 'By the grace of the gods, I will talk to the beyond.' while holding the crystal in both hands]
[Effect - Astral Projection]
Morgan guessed that by saying the catchy phrase in the Use field, he would start a call home; he'd submitted his family home's hub as his point of contact in the forms filled in not that long ago. He put the crystal in the satchel with the coin.
"Thank you, Oculus. And thank the Lady for me. I will treasure this crystal."
"You are welcome, Morgan." The orb rocked. "You can show your own player stats by identifying yourself, and you can access your inventory by identifying any bag or storage item you are carrying." Oculus paused for a moment, then resumed "I can be summoned any time you are in a quiet place, free from others. You must close your eyes and say my name three times. I can provide technical information and help but cannot divulge information about places or people. You must make your own strength in that regard. Do you have any questions?"
Morgan laughed. "Thousands. But I'll go forth and figure some stuff out along the way, I'll give you a call if I get stuck. Thank you for your help, Oculus. Send the Lady my regards."
The translucent orb wiggled in the air at him as it faded away.