Morgan was still rocked by the encounter and sat on a small root to process what had happened. He guessed that Oculus was a game support entity and would appear without fail when summoned for any player in the game under the right conditions; which seemed to be that it couldn't be seen by anyone else but the summoner. He found that quite comforting, Oculus seemed like a friendly presence, and being able to get some help if he had problems, was a reassuring thought.
Looking at the satchel, he identified it. A grid appeared in his vision of six empty slots side by side. With the coin in hand, he thrust it at one of the slots. It left his hand, gliding into the leftmost slot. He blinked in surprise, and the grid vanished. He identified the bag again, reaching for the coin in its slot, surprised when it disappeared from the slot and reappeared in his hand, just like that. He repeated this a few times, marvelling at the abstract nature of it. He then put the astral crystal in next to the coin and it shrunk down to fit into the grid slot.
He looked bemusedly at his empty hand. His empty virtual hand. Goodness this was weird. He snapped out of it; he had a way to contact his family now. Focused on the astral crystal, he willed it into his hands.
It appeared in his right hand, its sudden weight making him almost fumble it. He looked at it for a moment, admiring the way it seemed to pulse with an internal blue light from the orbs of energy circling within. He held it out in both hands, and after glancing about, quietly chanted the activation phrase.
"By the grace of the gods, I will talk to the beyond."
A moment passed before he noticed the energy within the crystal moving faster and faster, turning into a blur of blue that suddenly blinked a bright white.
"Morgan, is that you?" His mum's voice came through the crystal.
"Mum! Hi! This is too bizarre to be real. But at the same time, it’s all so realistic it's bizarre."
"We're all here to say hi to you!" His dad, and Claire joined in the greeting. Someone even managed to get an excited bark out of Moon.
"It's great to hear you all. This is more like a dream every second that I'm here. I just climbed a huge tree and was pushed out by the first sentient I've come across. Which happened to be a small floating spirit, who caught me on the way down to announce that he was here to help. Little orb called Oculus." Morgan laughed. "It's been an interesting day and I've only been here five minutes." His laugh died down as he was distracted by the colour from the crystal changing to a dull red.
Claire interjected. "You went to the Lab yesterday, but you've only been in the game 5 minutes at noon today?"
Morgan reassured her. "It took a while to get me into the capsule, and then they gave me some kind of sleeping agent. Must have been good stuff, I feel like I've slept for days, at any rate." The crystals colour faded back to white.
His Dad joined the conversation, sounding impressed "And we can only assume it took some time to do whatever magic they do to be able to call you in your sleep."
"Dad, my mind is bending enough already, don't you start." Morgan reprimanded lightly. His Dad chuckled, "Sorry, it's just that it's all really exciting. Your Mother and I have to step out now, glad you caught us. Please take care Morgan." His parents wished him goodbye, extracting promises from Morgan that he'd call soon. Claire was left on the line.
"So, how you feeling, bro?" she asked him, directly. Morgan was quiet for a moment before he replied.
“It's too early to tell. I mean, I feel great, pre-sickness great, and then some. I still need to play around with the game stuff, I mean, I haven't even looked at my own stats yet. Also, I have no idea where I'm going, or what I'm doing."
"You didn't ask the spirit guy?" Claire asked, a little incredulously.
"Actually no. Maybe I should have. I'll play around for a bit before I summon him and see if he'll help. I'm not hopeful as he said he doesn't give information about places or people. But if this is the starting area, it shouldn't be too hard."
"Sounds good. I'll leave you to it, try give us a call tomorrow evening and we'll catch up."
"Uhh... I have no idea how to hang up, this magic crystal doesn't have any buttons."
Claire laughed "Yeah, I'm not going to ask. Catch you soon Morgan, good luck." As she hung up the call, the bright white light emanating from the stone split back into the two smaller blue circling lights, resuming their dance within. He called up his inventory and thrust the crystal at one of the free slots, where it shrank down to size and parted from his hands, hovering back in the grid. He grinned as he blinked the grid away.
This was neat, he thought happily to himself. Given heart by the easy nature of communicating with his family, he stood and stretched, enjoying the feeling in his muscles, before striding in what he hoped was a westerly direction.
He stopped at the edge of the clearing opposite the entrance to find a way through. Looking to the left and right, he couldn't see an access, but did spot a place a few paces away where the shrubbery looked thinner and headed for it. Pushing between the bushes, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of the branches scrape his unprotected hands and face, he emerged into the dark of the thick forest.
The light was restricted by the dense canopy overhead, and a heavy gloom filled the space between the large tree trunks. The surface underfoot was springy to the step, his canvas shoes rustling amongst the leaves and the loam. A slight chill washed over him as he broke the silence of the forest with his passage. Looking around, feeling wary now, he spotted a sturdy looking branch near the base of a tree. He picked it up and hefted its meter length. It was a crooked and gnarled and felt comforting in his hands. Stopping in his tracks, he decided to try and identify it.
[Identify - Rotted Oak Branch - Level 1]
[Durability 1/5]
[Melee Damage 4-14]
Well, it was no gold coin in terms of damage, and its rotted status and single digit durability left a lot to be desired. He experimentally swung the stick at the large tree's trunk. With a resounding hollow thwack that reverberated through the nearby forest, the stick splintered and shattered upon impact. Startled at the noise, Morgan looked around guiltily, before he was distracted by the notification box that appeared in his vision.
[Congratulations, you have acquired the Maces skill.]
[This skill marks your proficiency with blunt weaponry.]
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Cocking his head, he looked down at the stump of the stick that remained in his hand. He cast it on the ground and started looking for another stick.
He wandered around the forest while keeping the large tree in sight and smashing six more sticks of low durability before receiving a notification for Maces Level 2. The seventh, eighth and ninth stick met a similar fate before he found a good one. Coming up to his shoulder while it was rested on the ground, it was solid and straight, the thickness of his thumb.
[Identify - Solid Oak Stick]
[Durability 13/14]
[Melee Damage 8-48]
He swished it through the air experimentally. 8 to 48 damage sounded OK, but he had no frame of reference. Pondering it for a moment, he finally used identify on himself. A text box flashed into his vision.
[Congratulations, you have been awarded one point to strength for completing the hidden objective - In the clouds.]
[Congratulations, you have been awarded one point to willpower for completing the hidden objective - Fall from grace.]
He chuckled to himself, it looked like his harrowing climb up the tree, and the subsequent panicked fall had had some benefits after all. He supposed he could have bypassed the tree completely, and perhaps Oculus would appear somewhere else along his way. He blinked away the rewards, and his stats page rose into view.
[Identify : Self - Morgan Jones : Level 1]
[Race - Human]
[Affiliations - None]
[HP - 482/482]
[SP - 356/356]
[MP - 200/200]
[Stats:]
[Dexterity - 75]
[Strength - 76]
[Willpower - 51]
[Intellect - 50]
[Wisdom - 50]
[Skills:]
[Identify]
[Proficiencies:]
[Thrown - Level 1]
[Maces - Level 2]
[Athletics - Level 1]
Morgan pored over the long listing for a moment. He must have picked up the thrown proficiency when he tossed that rock when he first awoke, and perhaps athletics had come from the climb. He was pondering the relationship of the stats column to his health, mana and stamina when he was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of rustling leaves behind him. He spun, clutching his branch tightly and turning to face the disturbance. A beetle, the size of a coffee table, reared up at his movement and made a chattering sound as its scythe-like mandibles waved in the air.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed as he sprang back. The giant beetle was close, a few meters. It must have snuck up on him whilst he stared into the air at his stats. It must have come to investigate the loud sounds of his stick trials. Now facing the monster, he somehow retained the presence of mind to identify it.
[Identify - Forest Beetle - Level 2]
[Race - Monster/Insectoid]
[HP - 240/240]
[SP - 355/400]
He gawped at the giant shelled creature as it finished the insectile roar and fell back on its six legs. It looked like a dung beetle, and it didn’t seem friendly. He could run, but it was his first opportunity for a fight and he’d take it. Taking a few stumbling steps back, he quickly calculated it's hit points against his sticks damage. He'd have to hit it between 5 and a staggering 30 times to drain its HP. He briefly wondered if the durability of his makeshift weapon would even last that long.
He held the stick like a spear as the beetle started its charge, its legs kicking up leaves from the forest floor. It was big, and he tried not to regret his decision not to flee. He waited nervously, gripping his stick firmly as the monster closed the short distance.
The beetle came within striking distance, and he lunged at it; the tip of his stick smashing into the insects small, uncovered head. A damage notification floated through his view.
[Crit - Head - 104 Damage - 2 Sec stun]
The forest beetle reared back once more, chittering angrily. Morgan grinned triumphantly at the solid hit; he'd done way more damage than he'd thought possible. He tried to capitalise on his strike by lunging again at its exposed belly, but he overextended himself in his haste. The stick struck clumsily and the skittered along its underside, his elation dissipating rapidly as he overbalanced and fell.
[Hit - Thorax - 12 Damage]
The beetle returned to its feet at the same time he hit the ground, and a flashing mandible caused him to roll quickly out of the way. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the other mandible swung round and caught him in the calf, causing him to cry out and fall to the ground again. Tears sprang up in his eyes from the sudden pain as a red number rose from the depleting health bar in his sight.
[-46 HP - Bleeding]
His leg burned where it had been slashed, and Morgan spared a look at the jagged wound, blood trickling down his leg. He looked at the beetle with a newfound terror as it bore down upon him again, the deadly mandibles rushing at him. He straightened up on his knees, managing to bring the stick up to deflect one of the mandibles, as the other one dug into the flesh of his left arm.
[-52 HP - Bleeding]
He yelped with the pain but managed to keep a grip on his weapon. Fury rose within him as his wounds stung and bled, and the beetle prepared to swing at him again. He channelled the rage he felt about the unfairness of life and the predicament that landed him here into a mighty downswing of his stick. The stick connected with the top of the beetle's carapace with a satisfying thud, disrupting the insect's attack and summoning a damage notification.
[Hit - Thorax - 44 Damage]
He jumped back after the strike, favouring his good leg and readying his makeshift staff once more. The beetle also took a moment to compose itself, shaking itself like a wet dog before it re-joined the fight, barrelling toward him, mandibles flashing menacingly. Morgan halted its relentless charge with another solid lunge to the head.
[Crit - Head - 80 Damage]
The beetle dropped to the floor, wriggling for a second before coming to a permanent rest. More notifications ran through his vision.
[You have defeated Forest Beetle - Level 2]
[You are awarded 225 XP]
[Congratulations, you have achieved Level 2]
He stood for a moment, wild eyed and panting, before sinking to the ground. As the adrenaline of the fight started to wear off, he could feel the pain more clearly from the rip in his calf and the puncture in his arm. Did people really do this for fun? Sure, it was a rush, but these wounds were so real, so visceral. The blood oozed out of the wounds, and he could see his health bar continue to drop slowly. As he looked at the wound on his arm, a notification popped up.
[Bleeding - 1HP every second for 30 seconds. (10 seconds left)]
A similar notification was visible above the other wound on his leg, now that he focused on it, but it had almost expired. As the bleeding statuses vanished, and the blood stopped trickling out of his wounds he cast identify upon himself to be met with another barrage of text.
[Congratulations, you have acquired the Parry skill.]
[This skill marks your proficiency at deflecting attacks with your weapons.]
[Congratulations, you have acquired the Dodge skill.]
[This skill marks your proficiency at avoiding incoming damage.]
[Congratulations, your Mace proficiency has raised plus 2 to level 4]
[You have reached a new level. You have 3 stat points to allocate]
[Identify - Self - Morgan Jones - Level 2]
[Race - Human]
[Affiliations - None]
[HP - 268/482]
[SP - 294/356]
[MP - 200/200]
He'd worry about allocating his stats later, once he had a better idea of what they each affected. For now, he was busy pondering the fight and his now ragged state. His shirt and trousers sported tears, and his wounds ached miserably. And that was just a fight with a Level 2 beetle, he thought. Granted, he had no armour, and his weapon was a stick, but the beetle had surprised him with its speed, hardiness, and the sheer realism of its assault. Had he not had the foresight to grab a decent stick for a weapon, or managed that lucky hit at the beginning of the encounter; it could well have been his body left cooling on the forest floor.
He looked over at the downed beetle. A dark ichor congealed around its head where it had been struck. The thought occurred to him that in most games you could loot the bodies of slain foes, and he wondered about how the process might apply. He held out his hand towards the corpse and said "Loot." Nothing happened. He tried it again with his hand touching the hard carapace. Again, no result. He tried Identify, and a grid similar to his inventory appeared. A small stack of items floated in one space of the grid, and he retrieved them.
[Identify - Forest Beetle Carapace x 3]
[Crafting - Common]
He examined the three plate sized disks of black chitin before slipping them into his satchel. The body of the creature remained unchanged, motionless amongst the leaves.
Though he now couldn't see the sun to properly orient himself, he'd estimated from the lofty perch at the top of the tree that it was only about a mile until the forest ended if he could find his way west. He figured that there was likely another path leading from the old tree, but he hadn't seen it, which meant that it didn't face the direction it now felt like he needed to go. He traced his way back to the point where he'd entered the forest from the clearing, and using that as a guide, strode cautiously westward into the gloom of under the large trees.