"This. Is. Amazing!" Crow yelled out as he looked all around him.
"Am I really just lying down in my room? I should have bought one of these a long time ago! Now, what do I need to do?"
"Hmm, First, check the items and equipment, then stats. Right, same protocol as any other RPG games I've played... But how?"
A few minutes of thinking and having found no option, decided to look for some help.
"Ah, excuse me." he called out to the person he first saw but he was promptly ignored.
He kept trying though, all other people he saw, he tried talking to, but to no avail; he was ignored.
'I really should have read that beginner's guide first.'
"Excuse me young man. I saw you trying to talk to the other travelers and failing, do you need some help?"
"Huh?" Crow looked behind him and saw an elderly person.
"That would be helpful. Yes, please."
"I see, then tell me, are you perhaps new here?" Crow nodded.
"I see, I see. Then that means you are also a 'Traveler' yes? If so, then perhaps you can help me with some problem?"
Crow's eyes instantly became vibrant as he paid more attention to the old man.
"If I can do it then I will, but what is it about?"
"You see, there's this person who hasn't paid the money he owed me, every time I try to get it, he'll just run away from me. I'm old so I could never catch up. If possible can you go for me instead?"
*TING*
Elder's Request
Someone owes the elder some money but refuses to pay him.
The elder has asked you to go for him in his stead.
Difficulty: -
Reward/s upon completion: familiarity with the elder.
'He's the elder?'
"Then let me help you." at Crow's answer, the elder showed a deep smile and thanked him.
"His name is Dale. He is often seen at the village pub. Tell him the elder sent you. Be careful though, he might just run after you tell him that."
As soon as he got the information he needed, Crow set out towards the pub but was instantly stopped by the elder.
"You're going the wrong way young man! The pub is that way." the elder pointed at the opposite direction of where Crow was going to.
At the realization, his face went red in embarrassment and thanked the elder again before running off.
----------------------------------------
"Hello, I'm looking for Dale. Is he around here?" at Crow's sudden entrance and question, all eyes were looking at him and then to another person.
"Aye, that's me. Come, come. I figure the elder sent ya, eh?"
"I'm surprised. The elder said the first thing you'd do is run away." Crow inched closer and closer until he sat on a chair next to the man.
"Look, I ain't got any money on me to pay the old man. Can you just tell him to wait?" Crow only said no and Dale sighed.
"Figures. I may as well tell you the truth now then. You see boy, I borrowed money from him to get some provision before I went monster hunting. Everything was going smooth and all, even got some pretty little gem dropped by a monster, I'd thought to pay him with that but I got attacked. Barely got away with my life! I tried going back time and again but that monster is still roaming around the area. I can't beat it myself... Wait, that gives me a great Idea! How about you go get it with me? Come on, the sooner we get this done, the better right?"
*Ting*
*Updated*
Elder's Request
Dale was ready to pay back the money he owes but got attacked. He didn't say where the area was but he has been trying to get it ever since. He thinks, with your help, the situation will change.
Difficulty: - > E
'Oh? The difficulty changed. I really need to read that beginner's guide later.'
"But I don't think I'm strong enough though." Dale suddenly burst in laughter as he kept hitting Crow's back.
"Nonsense boy! You know how to fight right?" Crow nodded at his question, Dale laughed harder.
"Then that's all we need! Now show me your equipment."
"I think I don't have any. I'm still new here." Dale suddenly stopped his laughing.
"I thought you knew how to fight?"
"Yeah, I do. I've been using my fists more times than I can think of." Dale went pale at his statement.
"Boy, mere fists won't do much to monsters unless your strong enough. Since you're new, I reckon you're not even a monk right?"
"Yes."
"Figures. Anyways, I guess an additional helping hand is better than nothing. Come with me, I'll teach you something that might help you."
Dale stood up from his seat and exited the pub, behind him was Crow.
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The two were now standing in an open space near a river when Dale suddenly tossed a wooden sword to Crow.
"You know how to hold a sword?"
"No." Dale sighed as he expected the answer more or less.
"Come on, Do as I say intently and correctly. Hold the sword upright with your two hands. Feet apart. Back straight."
Crow did what he said but the end result of his stance was next to rubbish and caused Dale to sigh even deeper.
"Look, I don't want to be mean but... You suck at this. Let's do this in an alternate way, I want you to copy my every move. The way I breath, the way I hold my sword, the way I swing, the way my feet stomps in the ground for every swing I do. Everything."
Crow didn't question the man as he already noticed the crestfallen look that Dale had. He stared as serious as he could, looking at every movement, every swing, every little thing he did as he swung his sword.
'Oh, I see... I think I'm starting to get it.'
*TING*
【New Skill gained: Observation】
"Now, you try it. Do what I did. I'm not expecting much but whatever."
Crow didn't pay attention to Dale's lack of trust, Crow did make a crappy stance the first time.
'Though maybe this time I can do it correctly, remember how he did this. How he held a sword. The upper body, from torso to the arms up to the fingers. The lower body, from the legs to the sole of his shoe.' Crow re-imagined the stance Dale took and slowly, he copied that stance from his mind.
Now he was in the same stance as Dale was before, he tried to remember how Dale moved when he swings his sword. He copied that too. He failed the first four to five times but slowly, his body was starting to understand the movements.
【New Skill gained: Mimicry】
【New Skill gained: Two-Handed sword stance】
【New Skill gained: Sword Mastery】
Crow stopped swinging his wooden sword and looked at his hands, he felt different than before. Before he could think deeper about it, he felt a painful sting in his back as Dale smacked his back while guffawing.
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"Hahahaha, Well look at that! I guess you CAN do it! Only needed a different approach eh?"
Crow couldn't hear what he said since he was still a litlt out of it.
'I gained four skills so fast. Is this normal? This game is even deeper than I though.'
"But you know boy. It's still not enough, tell you what, you come back to me in three days, I'll be at the same place you saw me, within these three days, train, get stronger and after that, we'll go get that crystal. See ya."
*Ting*
*Updated*
Elder's Request
Dale thinks you need more time to get ready before heading out, Use these three days and come back to him after training.
Difficulty: E
"This. Is. AWESOME! I need to go read that stupid beginner's guide, how do I log out of this gear?"
(Voice verification has been notified... Do you wish to log out?)
"Oh, there we go... This virtual reality system is getting deeper and deeper every time. Gear, Log out."
After saying those last words, the world around him soon vanished into thin air as if it was never there in the first place, Crow opened his eyes and saw the visor of his gear. He removed it and placed it carefully in his desk as he stood up, scratching his head.
"Now, where did I put that stupid thing?"
----------------------------------------
After skimming through the beginner's guide in an hour, he more or less understands the virtual reality's systems.
He logged back in after eating some dinner and was ready to get stronger.
"Let's see if it works. Status Window."
【Character Name: Crow】
【Soul's Color: White】
【Profession: None】
【Title: None】
【Level: 1】
【Fame: 0】
【Infamy: 0】
Stats:
【Health: 200】
【Mana: 100】
【Strength: 10】
【Agility: 10】
【Vitality: 10】
【Wisdom: 10】
【Intelligence: 10】
【Luck: 10】
"Ah, so it does work like this. Let's try this one then, Skill Window."
【Observation: (Beginner Class) Lv1】
【Mimicry: (Beginner Class) Lv1】
【Sword Mastery(Passive): (Beginner Class) Lv1】
【Two-Handed Sword Stance(Passive): (Beginner Class) Lv1】
"Okay, how about... Mimicry skill information."
【Mimicry: (Beginner Class) Lv1. 22%】
Closely tied to Observation skill. Allows the player to copy the movement, noise or even their very emotions.
The Higher the mastery level, the better the mimicry.
Allows the player to learn the skill 'Imitation' once mimicry is at a high mastery.
'Mimicry and Imitation? What's the difference?'
"Well, never mind that. Time to level up!" The place he was in when he logged out was the same place he was in before. So it means he's already out of the safe zone of the village.
----------------------------------------
"Huh... I'd expect there to be a slime every where since this is a beginner location... But all I keep seeing are those stupid 'Lone Wolf' Monsters. Should I?" He was contemplating on whether he should or should not fight the lone wolf monsters since all he sees when observing them were they were already at the level 5 to 10. Considering he's still at level 1, the enemies might just be a little stronger than he expected.
"Oh well, might as well go and do this then. At least my observation skill is getting better. Observation skill information."
【Observation: (Beginner Class) Lv1. 43%
Allows the player to observe things around him. Has the ability to evolve into other type of skill based on requirements.
IE: 【Keen Eye】 requirement: Observation skill beginner class Lv4 and bow related profession. There are other ways to obtain the skill even without the above prerequisites.
"Wow. So there's also skill evolution... Huh?" He stopped in his tracks when he noticed a snake slithering around his feet. He used observation on the snake.
【White Snake】 Lv3.
A different variation of the Slithering Snake monster. Has a different body make up compared to Slithering Snakes. Has a venomous bite.
"All right, finally saw something a bit lower than the others. Time to grind!" he drew a feral grin as he held the wooden sword in front of him and attacked the snake.
The snake, having suddenly get attacked was surprised, retaliated quickly and lunged at Crow's leg with fangs wide open.
Due to the observation skill that he acquired, he noticed the movement that the snake was about to do even before it had done it and immediately moved out of harm's way.
The fight lasted for about three minutes due to Crow's observation of every small detail that the snake would do instead of just attacking that he ended up wasting too much time.
"Alright, this is the last strike!" he swung the sword down towards the Snake's head and as it hit.
*Ting*
【You Leveled up!】
"Wow! Just one enemy? Level Information!"
【Level 2. Exp 12%】
"Well, that was a level 3 monster after all... I guess that's as much as you'd expect... I guess I should put the drops in my inventory. Inventory Window."
As the Inventory Window showed up, Crow immediately threw the snake's corpse in and it was sucked in the display. Dismantling the body was preferable as it would lighten the weight but since it's just a small snake, it was fine.
----------------------------------------
After two hours of none stop snake hunting and hiding from the wolves, Crow felt his body was too heavy.
(Your body is Famished, Stats are down by 25% until removed. When prolonged, may lead to sickness and death.)
Crow nodded at the sudden game pop-up.
"Inventory." as soon as the inventory window was out, he clicked the item called 'Wheat Bread' and closed the inventory.
"So hunger here and in the real world huh? I wonder if I can taste food here too... *gulp* I'll try it." As soon as he bit the bread, a crunching sound was heard.
"What the heck is thing thing! It's freakin hard and taste disgusting! Do I have anything else to eat? Inventory."
All items in his inventory was just White Snake and Slithering Snake carcasses.
"Snake huh... I heard they taste like chicken, sadly I don't have the tools to cook here... Damn this rock bread."
Even though he continued whining and cursing the piece of food, at the very least, it was able to satiate his hunger and remove the sign of famish.
"Okay. Time to hunt some more."