You know. I’m starting to miss transitions. I never traveled much back on earth. But I’ve taken bus rides and seen the area around me completely shift as neighborhoods went by. But here in Alius, I was starting to think that's an alien concept. The moment I touched the void of nothing, I was just. Somewhere else. No mixing whatsoever.

Anyways. The new plane is woods.

I’d like to be more descriptive here. But it's just. Woods. I've seen a million of them through a screen. And it looked like every other one I'd ever seen. Bushes. Trees. Rocks. Moss. it sure is a forest. I’m sure someone more clever could pick something up from the kinds of plants and stuff, but to me its just woods.

What I can figure out is that I prefer hiking through sand then hilly woodland. My legs are aching like hell already. I guess I’ve been getting more exercise recently then… Well ever in my old life. But I’d really appreciate being past the whole hurts to move stage.

“Shh.. I hear something.”

And it gets worse too.

Orphea starts climbing up a tree, it's so quick that I could have missed it if I wasn’t looking right at her beforehand. Meanwhile all I could do was pull out my mace. Not the same design I’d been rolling with. I found one with a couple unbroken spikes and a heavier head, almost looks like a proper mace.. Or half of one.

Rustling bushes was the first hint I got that something was actually getting close. I’d been straining my ears since we got here. My Echo magnet skill even went up, so that confirms its a hearing related thing. But yeah, mostly just waiting until I see whatever is out there.

Ah. That's new.

I think I was looking at.. A spider? No. it had folds of skin hanging loosely from spindly limbs. But its face was very close. A splay of black dollups serving as eyes on a rounded head plate. With long, thin. Spindly limbs ending in pressed tight claws. Whisker like hairs bouncing softly in the breeze from every elbow and shoulder on its 6 limbed body. And trailing along the ground behind it a wide fleshy tail something between a hairless monkey and a crocodiles.

The skin-spider paused as it got closer to me, then it started moving its arms very slowly, as if I wouldn’t notice it was moving if it just kept a slow, gradual pace.

“[Epsi arc]”

With this much prep time, it was hard to miss. But I managed it somehow.. Or I guess It just dodged. I really never considered it might just.. Move out of the way. Shit. Its already closing the distance, and it's got a reach advantage-

CRRNCH!

It might be rude to think so, but Orphea must weigh a ton. She’s at least 15 feet from head to tail, I couldn’t imagine having her fall on you feels nice. Especially with that huge quarterstaff-pillar of her jabbed through your head.

“I guess these are a bigger threat.”

Orphea scuttled off the monster's body and pushed her staff into a brilliant blue wall that appeared in front of her. Space casting of course. Allegedly she wasn’t very talented with it, but an ‘item box’ spell still outstriped anything I had managed so far.

“If you say so. I could probably take it. Maybe id take a hit from this… Thing.”

Its honestly getting a bit annoying to deal with this much enemy variety. Since the moment we entered this plane we’d been dealing with monsters over and over again. It’s nothing compared to the huge horde of biters I survived on the last plane, but It hadn’t even been a day out here and this is the 5th monster that attacked us. Or around 5th…

It's not like whining about it is going to help though. So I drag my backpack off and reach for the right inside pocket. A rusty length of metal you might generously describe as a knife produced grinding against one of the skin-spiders fang bases until the yanking and sawing detached it. I just toss it into my sack and slide the knife back into place.

||Inventory: Water skin. Travelers boots. Travelers clothing. Rusty dagger. Broken spiked mace. Crumbling axe. Hardtack biscuits. Rat knave’s jacket. Rags. Wolf meat. Torn wolf fur. Antler segment. Skin-spider fang. Backpack||

Just looking at the symbols four-wide across my vision I can see a readability issue waiting to happen. But I still haven’t figured out how to unlock any new features for my inventory. A level gate sounded possible. Or maybe you needed an item to unlock it?

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“And it seems I’ve reached that ‘level up’ you mentioned.”

Oh yeah, so as it turns out. Orphea has no idea what levels and skills and abilities are. I mean, she knows what the words mean in the same way I knew what they meant before I came to Alius. But the mechanics of this place? Completely new to her. And apparently that includes being level 0 with no skills or abilities.

“Careful. It’s kinda. Touchy. About reading what your intent is. If you think too hard about something it might take it as a decision.”

“Ah.. like a thaumaturgy.. What should I think about then..? For the sake of gaining strength.”

Well that is a matter of great scholarly debate. Honestly. It's one I’d love to have. Talking about game systems like the one this so clearly took inspiration from is one of my great passions. But considering this was a life that Orphea would have to lead… It's hard to immediately answer.

“I guess that depends on what kind of build you’re going for.. But It’s kinda up to you. I don’t really have a good grasp on whats strong and weak around here, so I guess just do whatever matters to you-”

“It's most important to me that I can eliminate threats to you as quickly as possible.”

I shrug. There’s still a variety of video game classes that she can pick based on that direction. But the fact that she said that probably means she’s already getting her skills. Her attention fading away makes that seem true.

Well, for now there really isn’t much to do. So I’m staring around the trees. I’m sure I’m just lacking in wonder… There's a good chance nothing like this exists anywhere on earth. The dessert was one thing. But this is verging on a honestly fantastical local. But it still feels… Disappointing? Woods used to be all over earth right? So far my ‘adventure in another world’ has been ‘adventure through pseudo-midevil fantasy’, with some weird monsters sprinkled in. Or maybe I just built my hopes up too much. After all. I..

“Are you familiar with the ‘browsplitter’ ability..?”

“What? You got an ability?”

How the hell.. I didn’t want to just. Assume that I had every power I guessed potential might have. But I've leveled up twice already. I figured you couldn’t get an ability without more effort at least. Okay. Maybe I’m just jealous cause I don’t have a single one. But still!

“It seems I didn’t have enough proficiency to unlock any of the skills it mentioned. But I’m a bit… Unclear on how to use this.”

“Well I can’t help you with that. I don’t have any abilities to speak of…”

“Maybe Casters don’t have very many?”

Shit. She caught my tone and now she's doing the thing where she tries to make me feel better. I don’t need to be coddled just cause I’m a bit jealous!

“Well… Anyways. I don’t know how to check what a skill, or in this case. Ability does either. Or even how to keep track of which ones you have. Hopefully you remember what you got.”

THUNK!

A stick..? No. That's an arrow. An arrow is now sticking out of the ground in front of me. Huh.

“Step no further if you want to live.”

Where the hell is the voice coming from? Somewhere out in the trees. But where?

“I don’t think we can win here Nerian.”

Orphea seems… Calm. No, she's definitely freaking out too, her staff is already out despite what she said.

“Silence. I do not miss twice.”

Maybe I should raise my hands or something? Whoever it is didn’t say to do that though. So I’m just gonna stay still. Or maybe that's wrong… Shit! I’m just giving them a better shot… But I’ve committed now.

Silence just stuck around for a bit. Before movement caught in my vision. A too soft whump against the ground as a figure landed from somewhere high up.

Ruby eyes. Not ruby as in red, but as in looked like literal gemstones. It wasn’t like the cast tutors rock prosthetic, it definitely seemed to still be an eyeball. But it didn’t have a pupil, just the countless refraction's of brilliant red. A bun of dark brown hair, pointed ears. And maybe a bit on the lanky side? I guess I can think of it as an elf.

“What… Is this creature..?”

“I-”

“Silence.”

The elf is still standing a few feet away, and the second Orphea opened her mouth, its bow is already pointing at her.

“She’s a monster, I tamed her myself.”

I’m just swinging wide. If I can’t make up something convincing I might as well try for something that works right?

“A summoner? From the first plane? And smelling of a Otherworlder…”

Welp. Double down time. Big money lets goo!

“It's my first time on these planes, my first visit was on a lower plane. I didn’t want to scare you or anything, but it's kinda pointless to threaten us.”

The ruby eyes shot back and forth between me and Orphea.. Yesss Orphea is a big strong monster and I’m definitely a huge threat for taming her. I've got a lot going on right now. So please. Pleeeease buy it.

“Very well. Unsummon your creature so we can talk candidly.”

Right. That wasn’t part of the plan.

I turned towards Orphea, kinda too deep in this shit to back down now. Just act calm. Like you’ve done this a hundred times before. And reach out your hand.

“[Through the root]”

And like that, Orphea had disappeared entirely. I can’t say if I’m a good enough show magician to make it look convincing.. I can already feel Orphea shuffling under my feet. At least putting her in the ground didn’t kill her.

“Ah.. I’ve never seen a summoner at work. It’s.. Quicker than I thought.”

“Haha. When I started out it was pretty slow actually. But you learn some tricks along the way.”

Stop digging already! I don’t know if Orphea can, or even needs to, breathe. We might be on a time crunch here!

“I see. Well what brings you to our homeland from the lower planes? I’ve seen little of Otherworlders.”

“Oh, a few reasons, the scenery has been pretty pleasant. I’d never stop being curious if I didn’t come here to see what it’s like for myself…”

Dammit. Are all elves so suspicious of people? You don’t have to eye me up like that when I’m answering your question. I mean I appreciate you being openly suspicious so I can tell and all. But still.

“And for my main reason. I can’t reveal it to just anyone.”

The elf nods a bit. Finally, I hate to make a bluff like that but I’m running out of options. And the ground is starting to get a bit rumbly.

“That said, I’ve got an awful sense of direction. Would you mind showing me the way?”

“Ah, of course. Our homeland can be treacherous without a guide.”

“HAHAHaha.. Yeah I’d hate to waste time wandering around here. Even if the view is nice.”

Hopefully my laughing covered up the little gasp from underneath me. Sorry Orphea. I’ll figure out something better soon… Hopefully.