His highness, King Calferd Melnus the Third, felt a headache coming on. He tapped on his desk in a random pattern as he tried to contain his irritation. Part of nobility is maintaining control of ones' self he mentally said to himself. His diviner advisor, ‘The Cursed Seer’, a long time friend also known as Jofrem, was still trying to convey every nuance and minor impression which could be gleaned from his latest augury. It was, of course, an attempt to circumvent his curse, and of course, it was failing, that was only reasonable since that was the point of his curse. Yet he always tried.
“Ok, let me see if I understand” King Calferd interrupted, cutting Jofrem off. “I asked for you to provide an augury of the most important event to my kingdom and then secondly to me personally”. Jofrem snapped his mouth closed and slowly nodded. While the king was upright and contained as he always was when in the view of others, Jofrem had been his friend for a long time and could see the Kings irritation.
King Calferd continue, “So instead of a divination about the recent dispute with the Elves which is very likely to result in war, or the current dispute with the Dwarves over mining rights, or the most recent news of an incursion of Orcs and other semi-sentient races from the south, or even the rumors about villages in the east which have had incursions by undead, something which hasn’t been seen since my grandfather's age…”
Jofrem nodded “I bring you news twice over of a wizard who ‘comes’ who will be level one, who will 'start' with but one spell to his name, and who ‘can be killed by any, but never defeated’ and who will ‘disrupt our world for enemy and friend alike’”.
A slow knot of pain started to form in King Calferds head, right between the eyes. ‘The Cursed Seer’ strikes again. Divinations clearer than all before, visions as precise as an eagles eyes…and as useless as using an egg for a hammer. “All right Jofrem, I’ll have the messengers inform the village elders and the nobles of the kingdom to be on the lookout for a wizard which is different from others, one who has not been heard of before. With instructions to make not friend nor enemy from them. We will revisit this news once we have more leads. Let us continue onto issues of further importance for now”.
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I tried to wipe my eyes as I glanced around at my new location. The ‘bright light scene change’ was starting to get annoying. Worse I understood that it was an effort to coddle along my little ‘infant mind’. Abrupt changes of locations would have to be disorientating to a ‘feeble’ mind like mine and it was an attempt to distract me. I mentally grumbled to myself. The part that was most upsetting about it was that I could see how it worked. A visceral physical reaction to distract from any mental alarm.
Looking around I tried to slowly put together the conditions I found myself in. Small little cottage-like houses. Some with signs hanging down, all with words as well as pictures describing them. Blacksmith, fletcher, inn, etc etc. It looked stereotypical starter game village. The little details of the picture though said this wasn’t a game. A broken fencepost at the end, a bucket left out half full of water, a bit of biting cold. This wasn’t some picture perfect game inn where the player is the point and everyone else was background. This was a real village that seemed to also be a game structure underneath.
It was early, before actual dawn but dawn was just arriving. A few townsfolk noticed me as they went about their day. I could see curiosity and concern. A small town like this, maybe thirty cottages in total many of which doubled as storefronts, would be thankful for visitors and their supposed money, wary of them as well.
With a mental shrug of indecision, I figured I would look to my status window and see if I could make a plan after I knew what I was working with. I mentally shouted “status” and was rewarded with a small blue panel floating in the air.
Status Name: Shawn Bradshaw Path: Wizard (upload process) Level: 1 Experience: 0 / 1000 Intellect: 135 Concentration: 105 Multi-Tasking: 1 (pseudo task pairing only) Creativity: 189 Memory: 102 (short term), 150 (long term) Data Correlation: 120
I could feel myself scratching my head in confusion until I realized that this was intended to be an upgrade process as a game, not a game which was for pure enjoyment. Of course, my stats reflected mental acuities and traits. I’m betting that the statistics I’m looking at are only crude valuations of things which will be more accurately described as I get further along and modify things with further upgrades.
Next I tried to figure out what kind of spells I had and how to use them. I knew I had to concentrate in order to get them to work, but get ‘what’ to work? What kind of spells did I have? I held my right hand in front of me and tried for the most stereotypical of all wizard spells; the fireball. I focused on my hand and imagined warmth gathering into a small ball in my hand, growing greater as I pushed at it. Trying to focus intently…and with a small ‘ding’ sound a small warm spot formed in my hand.
*ding*
Learned Spell: Ball of Heat
I could feel a small grin run across my face. Yes, I was standing in the middle of the street in a weird pose with my hand held forward and up as a tiny spot in the palm of my hand grew warmer. Yes, I looked like a complete idiot. But I had the best of both worlds here. I was going to be a spell slinging adventurer of a fantasy novel *and* become a super intelligent member of the galactic community and learn the scientific wonders of the universe, no the multiverse!
Which of course is the moment when my spell fizzled out and the ball of warmth skittered out of my palm and up my sleeve, catching it on fire.
Ok, so it wasn’t actually a roaring blaze, but it definitely got my, and apparently everyone else's, attention. It might have been the small flame on my cuff, or it could have been the moronic stance I had taken before that, maybe the mad cackling between those two moments, or possibly the flapping around and cussing as I attempted to put my arm out.
The point was that I found myself with more then a couple larger individuals wondering if I could use some assistance, perhaps to the edge of town? Somewhere ‘the wise wizard could practice away from those who may not be protected as well as him’. I could sense the subtle hostility, in that it wasn’t subtle in the slightest. I figured that I should get a move on from the middle of town. None of the large villagers where actually making threatening gestures or man handling me, but I think the idea of someone who obviously didn’t know what they where doing with magic, practicing magic near their homes -especially fire magic- was an understandable thing to be upset about.
I needed information but I didn’t want to upset the locals so I started to move along. One of the men, hirsute and dark skinned with an abundance of laugh lines, was going in the same direction I was so I decided to try for some information which could help me along.
“Excuse me, sorry about that back there, but could you help me with some information?” I smiled and continued on before he could tell me to get lost “I was wondering if you could tell me the name of this village? Also, I’m level one and I was hoping you could tell me how and where to level up around here”.
The moment I had asked about his village the laugh lines on his face stretched into what I could tell was a habitual grin, but the moment I mentioned I was level one his smile quickly vanished as he gave me a gimlet glance. Looking me up and down the man slowed down and stopped then glanced around.
“Names Mennen and this be Melcot village, but I don’t know what kind of scam you think you will be playin’ here. Ain’t no wizard level one.” With a snort, he continued on “ain’t no toddler which be level one. So what ever you tryin’ to be selling, no one be buying it”.
I was non plussed. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Obviously, I was starting with a greater disadvantage here then I thought but I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. I needed good relations with someone, and this village seemed like the best shot. All I could do was try and continue on.
“I am level one. I’m in desperate need of information and guidance. I’m not trying to scam anyone. If anything I’m going to need help from being scammed”. I figured, beyond the ‘don’t lie’ requirements of my new path, that honesty was really my best policy here. I needed someone to show me the ropes and Mennen seemed like my best bet there.
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Mennen straightened his brown tunic as he moved slightly back from me. It looked like he was gearing up for a fight. With the ham fists he had and the wool and leather clothing he was wearing with the wood cutters axe strapped to his side I was not looking at this as a battle I could win. My reflexive step back and hands raised in a defensive position seemed to ratchet up the tension for a moment. When I didn’t continue on to sling magic at him he took a breath and braced as he said, “If you be level one, show me your status”.
I shrugged and mentioned I didn’t even know how to do that. This seemed to tense Mennen up again for a moment before he told me to just mentally state I wanted to show my status to Mennen. With another subtle shrug, I did just that. Slowly Mennen’s jaw dropped as he gazed at what I can only assume was my status floating in front of him. It seemed to me that Mennen was a bit slow, it was unfortunate that I just happened to pick the village idiot to help me out.
Nodding Mennen looked up at me and snickered. With a shift in stance, all of Mennen’s mannerisms changed. Looking around, and in a clear unaccented voice, Mennen spoke “Ok boys. The magic slinger here was telling the truth. He is level one. If I miss my bet he is as wet behind the ear as a real toddler also. He didn’t notice any of you and he seems harmless enough. Back to work you all”. Looking around I noticed archers slipping back behind the eaves at the top of cottages, men with clubs and axes who had been subtly standing behind corners, they waved and then moved off.
Apparently, Mennen wasn’t the village idiot, I had nominated myself for that position.
With a slow chuckle, Mennen walked up to me as he noticed my appraisal of the village defenders now revealed.
“Walk with me and we'll talk,” he said as he continued in the direction we had been going. Somehow I don’t think Mennen just ‘happened’ to be the one closest to me when I decided to chat. It looks like I had been played in moments and assessed as not a risk.
“Look boy-o, I don’t know how you’re level one. I don’t know how you are a level one wizard, I can’t even conceive of how a grown man could get to be your age and not be missed by your wizard master…” Mennen said, gesturing gently as we ambled along “…but your status says you are level one, that you are a wizard, not an apprentice wizard, and definitely not indentured in some way. So far you have said nothing that wasn’t the truth as weird as that could be”.
I felt like I was getting another ‘infant’ chat. Again, I could feel my anger simmering under the surface but I had to bite it back, I was ignorant of everything around me. I was an infant in all but age.
“I can provide some basic assistance, and I will since even having,” with a light snicker he continued, “a level one wizard would be useful to my village here, but I got to be sure you understand where I’m coming from here. Winter will be coming soon and we will need everything we can work with here. Will you hang around long enough to make babysitting you worthwhile?”
I grumped a bit but agreed to assist the town, even till after winter. What did I care? I was going to be here for years most likely. This was just as good a place to stay as any, and getting this same talk from another, perhaps a less kindly villager in a different village, didn’t seem like a smart play.
Mennen, who turned out to be what was essentially a default leader of the town, informed me that since I was big enough and strong enough to do things myself, I would hunt the rabbits outside town. His instructions were simple. Kill them how ever. Collect the pelts. Don’t die.
“Thanks, I’ll try not to die to the rabbits,” I said with a bit of a head shake. Rabbits? Seriously? Dying to rabbits? I mean I knew I was level one. But still, seriously? Infant talk strikes again.
With a grunt, I slowly walked out towards the edge of town and into the cleared area which surrounded the village. It was obvious that this village was in a glen which had been further cleared back of trees to make open ground between the pine forest surrounding it and the rest of the village. Stumps of cut away trees littered part of the way between the village and the forest. The rutted dirt road that passed through the town like an axe cleave was straight and true through both the village and the forest beyond.
In the cleared area I could see a few bunnies bouncing around. Moving carefully and keeping me in sight. I was momentarily disconcerted to see these bunnies with little white horns on their heads. Right, horned rabbits. Typical level one tutorial fantasy game fodder. Now comes the question. How do I take one out? I hadn’t thought of it before, but a ‘Ball of Heat’ isn’t exactly a dangerous exploding fireball. With a bit of experimentation, I discovered my ‘Ball of Heat’ was even worse than I had originally thought. It was apparently just as I had originally envisioned it. A small ball of heat in my hand. Nothing more, nothing less. I had assumed that I could eventually turn it into a giant fireball which I could rocket towards my target. Nope, it was exactly as I had tried to create it from the start and nothing more.
What was worse, when I tried to imagine a fireball, or ice lance, or just a big gust of force flying from me I was rewarded with a computerized *blump* sound which then stated that ‘at my current abilities I had access to only one spell’. Wonderful. I could light a campfire, but I was unable to defeat a bunny with spells. Ah, the joys of being low level.
All I could do I guess was grab a stick and see if I could wail away at a bunny. I understood that bunny hunting was basically a task a kid performed here, the pelts, horn, and meat would augment the village's stores for winter but wouldn’t be enough to hold alone. I was basically doing a task that teenagers would look down upon. Beggars can’t be choosers, and frankly, this was something I was familiar with from video games. Kill the small fries and level up, put away your pride. You will win through soon enough.
With a bit of wood for a make shift club, I started to slowly amble over to a bunny. I could tell the bunny was aware of me and was patiently waiting for me, cleaning his face and nibbling on some spare food. As I moved closer staring at him a small panel slowly faded into view above the bunnies head.
Horned Rabbit.
Level 1.
Mildly Dangerous.
Mildly dangerous? Are you kidding? It’s a bunny. Ok, a bunny in a fantasy world with a horn on its head. But it’s still a bunny. It’s even the same level as me!
With a contemptuous sneer, I stomped forward. I was prepared for this bunny to either jump at me and try to spear me or run away. I was making every effort to try and avoid underestimating this bunny. Digitals had built this system, and those panels provided information from Digital systems. They might mislead me through my misunderstanding or because I lacked all the information, but they wouldn’t lie. If it says ‘mildly dangerous’ then it would be ‘mildly dangerous’.
The bunny crouched and with a snarl and high pitched squeak it’s little red eyes seemed to brighten, it fluffed it’s white fur and unbunched in a savage lunge from at least ten feet away. I had been right, the bunny was more of a threat than I had initially considered, but my make shift club swatted him out of the air well enough.
The *crack* as the bunny was swatted out of the air and to the ground was clear. I hadn’t killed him with one swing, but he wouldn’t be lunging away or after me either. I stepped forward and prepared myself to end the cute little fluffballs life. I would need to harden my heart to harmless little critters in the future. I needed to level up and this seemed to be the way to do it.
Before I could deliver the coup de grace I heard something which caused mental sirens to go off…I heard high pitched squeaks coming from everywhere around me. In front and to the sides of me were at least five other horned bunnies, bunching and preparing to lunge. I knew exactly how this was going to play out. I understood video games well enough. This was the part where the lowbie noob got his ass kicked because he didn’t know the mobs around him had a decent agro radius and would assist each other.
Without a second thought, I hopped back, luckily dodging one lunge from the side, and began running towards the village while bunnies started to chase after me. Turning and running, I started screaming “Train!”, not knowing if that nomenclature would be understood by the villagers I continued with “HEEEELP!”.
The sounds of arrows and slings nailing bunnies behind me and then the sound of unbridled laughter alerted me to the fact that at least five of the villagers who I thought had moved on to their own business had been following me out of my sight somehow.
With a chuckle, Mennen ambled around the corner of the closest cottage with his arms behind his back. “Appears you really, truly, are level one sir wizard. I was convinced that someone had figured out how to fake a panel, despite everything and against all appearances…you really are level one”.
I could feel my face flush and my shoulders slumped over as my fists tightened. The games being played with me was getting old fast. I had spent three months pretending to be a Digital bigot. I could shoulder this and continue as I had before, but I didn’t like it and I was starting to lose my cool.
I think Mennen could see that I was starting to lose it. I doubt he was frightened of me, despite my size I was still level one, and that told the people pretty clearly that they could handle me just fine. But with a gentle head shake he tried to calm me down.
“Look at it from our point of view boy-o, no one has ever been level one after the age of about three. You’re what thirty? Also a wizard? No wizards live in these parts, heck no wizard would bother to talk to anyone in a village like this. But a level one wizard? The combination makes no sense. It was more likely you were planning to play some scam on us and we just couldn’t afford to either be scammed or insult a wizard. If you were what you said then no harm no foul, we could help. But otherwise…”
With a gentle pat on my slowly loosening up shoulders Mennen continued on, “go on, go kill that rabbit. I’ll keep one of the kids over here with a sling to watch and make sure you don’t pull another train and cause a ruckus,” Apparently common video game terms applied here. A ‘train’ was when someone dragged a bunch of upset mobs, a video game term for creatures, back to another group. In some games it was both the death cry of the noobie and the war cry of an annoyed group which was planning to return some anger on said noobie for his train.
It felt rather anti-climatic returning to my downed bunny to whack him upside the head to gain my first kill. But the fact that I only earned TWO experience for my effort and some bunny meat and pelt said clearly that I was going to be at this for a while.