Start of Part 2 _____________________________________________________________

I gripped tighter on the bow and drew an arrow from the quiver on my back. The monsters wearing the guise of humans raised their weapon and roared before each charging towards me and the other 6. Just as they’d all began charging time seemed to slow down to a crawl and suddenly I heard a voice.

“Welcome to the combat tutorial.” Said a smarmy man's voice.

“We at OWIF strive to create only the most realistic of combat systems. As we strive to make combat feel as real and dangerous as possible pain feedback is increased to the games specification of 80%. Please remember that although the pain might feel real it is not.” explained the voice.

“Injuries received during battle persist after the battle has been completed. Injuries take time to heal. The worse the injury the longer it takes to heal and you may sustain a disability. Severe injury can result in death during the healing process unless absolute care is taken during the recovery process.” The voice continued.

By now the monsters had taken two bounding steps towards us. Lephtal and the others had already let loose an arrow and they were slowly floating away from us. I let go of my arrow which I’d had aimed for a bit now. Though I felt like I was cheating.

“You have just commenced attack with the bow.” The voice said abruptly.

“The bow is a piercing class weapon. The bone arrow is an arrow that induces a bleed status effect on a direct hit. The bone arrow also acts as a magic focus which boosts the power of magical attacks. Different arrow types have different effects and are advantageous against their intended targets.” When the voice finished speaking time suddenly sped up and my arrow struck the woman with the axe in the waist. The others arrows struck the chests of each of their targets and they dropped immediately to the ground.

Time slowed again as the voice spoke once more, “You have just inflicted a flesh wound against the Savage Camp Leader. Inflicting 10.72 points of damage instead of your weapons full 21.54 points of damage. Full damage can only be attained through striking internal organs. Full damage inflicts the severe wounds affliction. Critical damage is attained through striking vital organs and deals double damage to the target. Critical damage inflicts the Vital wounds affliction and usually results in death shortly after if not immediately.”

Time sped up again. Lephtal, Heu and Freya threw their bows to the side and drew their swords. I followed suit and threw my bow to the side before drawing my sword. By the time I’d done this the monsters, savage's if I go by what the voice said, where right within attacking range of their clubs and sticks. I slashed with my sword at the first one that ran at me. The blade cut deep into the flesh of his arm and stopped at the bone. However I couldn’t stop the savage’s momentum. He barreled straight into me and knocked me over. I felt the heavy thud and pain as his body smashed against mine and we both fell to the ground. I let out a short shout in pain and as we fell time slowed again.

“A sword inflicts bleed on a successful flesh wound. Swords have the trait of sever. Which means that when you inflict a flesh wound with the sword, if the damage inflicted is more than half of the target's remaining PF and you are attacking a limb. Then that limb is severed and cannot be recovered. You have also just suffered from stun. Stun occurs when the head sustains a sudden trauma. The length of the stun is determined by the amount of force used. Too much force will result in the head trauma affliction.” The voice explained to me.

Again time spend up and I immediately impacted with the ground.

“-0.3PF(Deflected impact)” appeared in my system log.

“Little shade!” Heu shouted after pushing a savage back and running him through with his sword.

I shook my head as the stun made me dizzy and like I was floating. The savage recovered faster than me and with his club held in both hands he heaved the club high above his head and brought it down towards my head. I raised my arms on reflex to shield myself. The club made contact with my forearm. My vambrace deformed and compacted from the force and I felt pain shoot through it like a thousand fire ants had decided to burrow into my skin and bite at my flesh.

“-6.95(Shatter)” I screamed in pain and gripped my arm before time slowed again. The pain dulled to a slight throbbing and I was able to regain my sense. I saw the savage raising the club again to swing at my head.

“Blunt weapon bypass the defense of normal metal armors. Dealing damage as if there was no armor present. You have inflicted with the Shatter affliction. Blunt weapons such as clubs posses the Shatter trait. When attacking, if the damage inflicted surpasses half the target's remaining PF then the Shatter affliction will be inflicted. This shatters the target's bones and gives a disability. With proper care this disability will disappear. With improper care this disability will become permanent.” The voice explain dispassionately before ruthlessly speeding up time again. Bringing back the crippling pain with it.

““AHH!!”” The savage screamed at me and I screamed to match it. Though for entirely different reasons.

The club was swung down at my head again and I shielded myself but this time with the sword. The club broke and the stone mallet struck my mouth. I felt my teeth break and shatter and tasted the blood as it flooded the inside of my mouth. I was horrified and had never felt this much pain in my life.

“-4.13PF (Shrapnel Impact)” Appeared, which snapped me out of the shock and horror of feeling my teeth and inside of my mouth being destroyed.

He savage went for a swing with his fist after discarding his stone clubs handle. My head felt like was was stuffed full of cotton and the world spun. But I felt my adrenalin and the drive to survive kick me in the chest. I rammed my sword into his gut and up through his chest as easily as cutting butter. The fact that I couldn’t feel anything other than pain at the time probably had something to do with my sudden strength. I rolled over with the savages corpse before pushing myself up to a kneel. I heard a screaming voice running closer and looked to see another savage running at me. I pulled my sword out of the savage by my knees and held the hilt of my sword to my chest. I aimed point of my blade towards them. It was the best I could do at the moment. My breath was heavy and I felt like I would faint if I relaxed or exerted myself even a little bit. They skewered themselves on my sword and knocked me over again. Inflicted another 0.3 damage to my already battered body. I heard the savage gurgling, their face right before mine. They spat their blood at me in an attempt to breath before their eyes became empty and lifeless. I rolled them off of me. My sword had pierced their collar bone, gone up through their neck and out the back. Blood poured out all over everything and pooled on the ground. I started in a confused horror at how realistic it was. The only thing that kept me together was the event log that told me of the end of combat. I didn’t get any experience because I didn’t have a classification. It felt funny that I even cared about getting experience from that.

“Little Shade!” Lephtal ran up to me. He was covered in blood but none of it seemed to be his own.

He was slightly paler than usual and looked over me with a worried expression. Ulfali came over and handed me a damp white cloth. I looked at her didn’t know what to do for a moment for I realized and tried wiping my face. First I spat out my shattered teeth which seemed to make Lephtal pale further. I wiped my mouth carefully and tried not to agitate the numerous cuts inside my mouth. This really sucked. At least I hadn’t made myself pretty to begin with. Fuck. This is pretty horrible how far they’ve gone with the realism. This is also kind of exciting. Ah, not that I like pain. But with the realism so high it really feels like I’ve come to a fantasy world. Though I really wish my teeth weren't smashed in. Eating and breathing is gonna suck so much until this heals.

“We’ll need to her her back quickly so the healers can set her arm properly.” Freya said bluntly.

“I knew we should have got a spear.” Jut muttered.

“That spear belonged to the previous Elder. She isn’t old enough to carry that responsibility yet.” Heu scolded Jut for even mentioning it.

“We should have still gotten her a spear. She has more experience with the spear.” Jut said unhappily.

I think I would have died if I didn’t have a sword. Not to even mention that I only know how to swing a sword from when I was a kid. I’d swing around a stick and play sword fights with the other kids. Then when they got bored of it I still kept playing sword fight and swinging around a stick, hitting trees, hitting leaves. I had a lot of fun fighting imaginary enemies with my trusty magic sword as a kid. I’d find bigger and heavier sticks to swing when the previous one got to light. I remember when I finally stopped was when I’d gotten to swinging sticks that were more than two meters long and only slightly slimmer than my forearm. That was when I started college. I finally grew out of playing imaginary. It just took me a bit longer than everyone else. It did make me ripped compared to normal people my age though. So I guess it was worth it. Now I was in a fantasy world and essentially living out my imaginary world where I fought monsters and knights for valor and honor. And I’d fucked it up immediately.

“No. I would have probably made the same mistake. It was my first time fighting someone focusing on me.” I managed to moan out through my now swelling mouth.

“Don’t talk Little shade. You’ll irritate you injuries more.” Ulfali chided.

I nodded and drooped my head before standing. Cradling my broken arm I and the rest of the party made the 3 day trip back to the elven village of Rehl. When we got back I was taken to the Chiefs tree to receive medical attention from the healer, Elder Magdalen. Elder Magdalen was very beautiful. Her skin glowed with a faint but noticeable white light. She was skinny with a small chest but had thick thighs. Her hair was apple red and also glowed but it was a red glow that lit up the shadows. Her eyes as well glowed a vibrant red that seemed to bore into whatever she looked upon. Lephtal had taken it upon himself to take me to her and when we’d knocked on the door it had opened as if she’d been waiting there for us.

“Please lay down on the bed E’al. you will need to stay here for the next few days so I can be sure you’re healing correctly.” Elder Magdalen smiled gently and waved her hand to hurry me in.

I obediently laid in one of the many beds in the healer ward. There were a few other people here, all were elves as expected. One man had lost an arm, a woman had lost an ear and seemed to have been stabbed multiple times in the stomach and another man had a long cut down the side of his face and was now missing an eye on that same side.

“I’ll tell Neipht what happened Little Shade.” Lephtal looked a little helpless as it seemed like he wanted to stay but had things he needed to do.

I nodded my head because moving my mouth to talk hurts a whole lot now that the adrenaline had well and truly worked itself out of my system. Lephtal nodded back and left. Elder Magdalen waved Lephtal goodbye and turned to me. She looked crossly at me but none the less set my arm, set a splint and bandaged it. She then began looking over the numerous cuts in my mouth and my ruined front teeth.

“E’al. You shouldn’t worry him like that. He’s still too young and naive. To have fallen for a thing of darkness like you.” She scolded with not a little bit prejudice.

I did say anything because I didn’t care enough about this characters scripted dialogue to reply. I wish there was a skip button though. The elder took her fingers out of my mouth and went off to a cabinet. From it she took out a porcelain jar and came back over to me. In it was a greenish gel that smelled horrible. Scooping a glob of it out with a finger she set to rubbing it on the cuts inside my mouth. It tasted bitter and salty and if it was just that I wouldn’t have minded. However it also had an indescribable grassy taste that made me gag.

“Don’t do it. You’ll just regret it later.” The elder tutted me when I started to gag.

She finished smearing the gel inside my mouth before long and returned the porcelain jar. She returned with another and had me open my mouth again. In this jar was a blue gel that didn’t smell like anything. The elder took out a stick and using the stick began smearing the gel on the remains of my front teeth. When she was done she look at me for a bit before shaking her head.

“Don’t swallow it and just leave it in your mouth. I don’t want to have to reapply it. It probably better if you just leave your mouth open. If not it’ll get infected.” With that she went off and checked on the other patients and didn’t bother checking with me again.

I layed in bed with my mouth open and my saliva pooling in the back of my throat for three days. The Elder came to my twice a day to feed me and give me water. I was visited once by Neipht and Lephtal and once by Jut, Freya, Ulfali, Neyh and Heu. The came by just to make sure I was okay. By the third day the cuts in my mouth had mostly healed. What was left of my front teeth fell out on it’s own and somehow new teeth started coming through. Apparently this was what the gels were for and why Elder Magdalen had said I’d regret it if I swallowed it instead of leaving it.

“Everything's healing as it should. Now get out of my ward E’al. I don’t want to see your kind in here again.” Elder Magdalen said to me after she’d checked my mouth and arm on the third day. This got a few looks from the other patients but I’d realized over the last 2 days that she talks like this to everyone.

“I’ll do my best not to get injured again. But if I do please take care of me again and thank you Elder.” I said politely. The Elder was rude and crass at a glance. But she was actually very kind and got angry at people for getting injured, being stupid or for pretty much any reason that ticked her off. I wasn’t really sure sometimes.

It was still morning. The location indicator said I was at the base of the Chiefs tree. My house was in the southeastern outer district and inside the merchants quarter. I knew this because Lephtal had taken me this was after we dropped off my armor at my house. So I passed back through the produce district where most of the local crops and cattle are grown and raised. The streets were covered with vines and leafy plants the bore fruit. Strange 4 horned deer with feathered pelts walked about in pens and birds with rainbow coloured feathers that glittered in the sun flew between the fruit vines. As I walked I could see people climbing the vines and cutting the fruit stems before throwing them down to people below. When a bird flew close to one of them they suddenly struck out with a dagger and squared the bird. A few people below cheered and hugged one another like they’d won the lottery. The man on the vine raised the corpse of the bird above his head in triumph. I watched another person attempt to do that same. The bird dexterously dodged the dagger and knocked them off the vine with a strike of their claws. They fell and were caught by the people below. Then the next person climbed the vine to pick fruits and the previous kicked up a fuss about almost having it. It was really weird. But it seems kind of like a contest between friends. To see who can get the most fruits before getting knocked off by the bird. If you manage to kill the bird then you can pick the entire vine without getting attacked. Not to mention you get a bird to eat and those glittering multicolored feathers looked like they could be used for decorations and such. I kind of wanted to have a try. I’ll have to ask Lephtal about it latter.

When I got home and close the front door a notice popped up.

“Quest Completed.

Assist the Elven Scouts in annihilating the Shade Savage Village.

* Scouts spotted a large number of Shades coming into being near the village. They’d undergone monsterfication and so diplomacy became impossible. Annihilate the monsters and cleanse the Lake of Dawn of the monster threat.

* Requirements: Rehl Village relationship 80+

* Rewards: Rehl Village relationship +14, Reputation +2, Fahan’s Fangx1.”

I closed the window. Then I heard a tinkling sound before a bunch of golden sparkles and vines spreading out from the new stylized window that opened.

“Fang of Rehl Classification gained.

Rehl Village relationship +40, Reputation +20.

* Gained the Armor(Light) Skill

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* Gained the Spear Skill

* Gained the Harden Skill

* Gained the Perception Skill

* Gained the ability to purchase Skills

* Gained the ability to allocate Ability points

* Gained the ability to allocate Skill points”

This was great news. Even though I thought I’d failed the quest. It seemed it changed to match the increased difficulty. I also gained a Classification and skills. As well as the ability to allocated ability and skill points. Though I didn’t know I couldn’t do it before so I guess things worked out. I opened my stat points to pour my points into skill and potential but I couldn’t see a way to do it. I agonized over it for an hour and even got annoyed that it said I could do it but couldn’t. Maybe it was bugged? I’ll have to file a bug report. Enough of that. I turned to the spear that had been leaning against the wall next to where I’d put my armor. My armor had been repaired and cleaned. It was probably Neipht or Lephtal who had it fixed.

I picked up the spear with my okay hand. Fortunately it was my right arm that was broken. Since I was left handed it would have been annoying if my dominant arm had been broken. I wouldn’t be able to wield the spear until my arm heals but just looking at the spear I wanted to try using it. Unfortunately it was to heavy for me to use in one hand so I put it back against the wall. I couldn’t see myself on the spear heads polished that just reflected a dull white. The metal was patterned like damascus steel. However instead of patterns made up of gradients of grey. It was made up of an almost white metal that seemed to have streaks of rainbows going across it in the light and a pale green metal. The green metal spread out from the center and made the spearhead look like a decorative feather made of metal. The spearhead was joined to the spears wooden pole by more white metal marbled with the pale green metal. The spear was surprisingly heavy but balanced. I would need to build my muscle strength before I could use it properly. One thing I knew was that, for sure, this was a strong weapon. At least for a beginner like me. I think I won out on my starting location.

No one came around so I started practicing swing with my sword in one hand. It was kind of tough and I had to take a few breaks. It felt great to be swinging a real sword though. I tried swinging it the way I swung the sticks when I was a kid. It took a while but I managed to work out the wrong feeling from my technique. I was never trained but when I swung sticks in the past it I could always feel when I was doing something that didn’t work. The stick would feel clunky, the sound it’s make while ripping through the air would sound off and my muscles would feel like they could do better. It was a feeling like I could swing faster, swing with more strength, with more control and I always could. It was actually the funnest part of playing make believe. The feeling like I could be better, stronger, faster and more in control. It was addictive and this game rekindled that overwhelming need to be greater than I was. It was dark by the time I’d stopped and I realized I hadn’t eaten all day. I felt tired, hungry and thirsty. But more than that I felt satisfied. Like I’d scratched an itch that had been eating at me. This was fun. I smiled and went back inside. When I did I heard a knock on the door. So I answered it. It was Lephtal.

“Little shade.” He said awkwardly when he was me.

“That’s me.” I said cheerily.

“It’s me Lephtal. I live next door with my dad, Neipht. You know him, though you probably don’t remember anymore.” I explained and I nodded.

“I remember Lephtal.” I finally said when it seemed like he’d continue.

“Oh good.” He smiled broadly.

“I wanted to ask you if you’d like to have dinner with us? Uh, at my parents house. Not mine. I’m a terrible cook.” He stumbled out.

“Sure. Just let me get changed. I’ve been wearing these clothes for three days.” I smiled.

I closed the door and went into my room. I took off my dirty clothes that now smelled a bit and threw them into my washing basket. Or at least what I’d decided was going to be my washing basket. I noticed a small bucket with clean water and a cloth in it. So I took the time to wipe myself clean. The water was cold which sucked. But being clean for the first time in a week was worth it. I found some more underwear in my wardrobe and put it on. It seemed to be made of silk? It was a smooth fabric that was dyed red. I’m kind of grateful that this fantasy setting has proper underwear. I don’t know how I’d feel about it if I had to wear nothing or some weird elaborate underwear like they used to in some countries in the past. Over that I put a light green tunic and some brown long pants. The were both made of same kind of fine fabric as my underwear. Is wearing a lot of silk an elven thing? I wondered before discarding the tough and putting on some socks. I wore the sturdy leather boots from before because they were the only shoes I had. I guess that was fine.

I joined up with Lephtal who was still waiting at the front door and we went to Neipht’s house for dinner. Dinner was mostly an assortment of leafy greens and fruits with some lightly seasoned meat on the side. It tasted pretty good and although I didn’t know what any of it was I didn’t find anything I disliked. It was a pleasant dinner. I stayed for a bit and we spoke about the quest. Though they called it a missions because I suppose it was. Same thing I guess.

“What is a Fang of Rehl?” I asked at one point during dinner.

“They’re a kind of warrior of Rehl. Lephtal and the group you went with are scouts. The scouts are also called the Wings of Rehl. You going with them was actually part of a test to see if you were qualified to join them.” Neipht admitted.

“I didn’t qualify... did I?” I messed up and got injured so of course I didn’t.

“No, you passed with flying colors. Just as we thought you would.” Neipht chuckled when he said this.

“To suffer those kind of injuries and keep fighting. Only a Fang could do that!” Lephtal said proudly like it was his own achievement. Neipht nodded in agreement.

“The Fang’s of Rehl are the villages toughest warriors. Warriors who fight to the death regardless of injury. They’re the villages strongest frontline fighters. They wear little armor to show they aren’t afraid of injury and that regardless of how broken their bodies they will keep fighting. Of course they aren’t stupid so they still wear armor. They just don’t shy away from getting hurt because they aren’t afraid.” Neipht explained to me.

So they’re essentially DPS-tanks that wear light armor? Ugh I’d rather not get hurt like that again. I seriously thought I’d have no front teeth until I switched characters. My new front teeth are still growing in and eating really sucks at the moment.

“I couldn’t keep fighting if I took an injury like that. Even Freya said she doesn’t think she could keep fighting when injured like that.” Lephtal said this while smiling.

Happy I could out do your expectations… Fighting regardless of injury isn’t the kind of thing I’d feel happy about though. Getting hurt sucks and what they’re describing sound like a viking berserker that fights to the death while wearing nothing but a pelt. It really sounds like a shitty job. I went home shortly after that conversation. I changed out of my clothes because I planned to wear them tomorrow and changed into the pajamas I hadn’t cleaned yet.

I’m gonna have to figure out how to clean my clothes tomorrow. I thought to myself.

I quickly drifted off to sleep. The fatigue of my practice today finally catching up with me. I found myself standing in endless blackness. A window opened before my eyes before I could start to wonder if this was some weird dream the game made for me, a bug or something else.

“Welcome to the inner-mind space.”

The window switched over.

“Here you can allocate ability and skill points. You can also send private messages, access the internet and logout from this space. Thought acceleration is still in progress so you will not miss anything happening in game while in this space.”

The window switched over again once I’d finished reading.

“This space can only be accessed from your homebase. Your homebase is currently set to your residence. If you have rented a room in an inn or set up a camp, then you may also temporarily set that as your home base.”

The window closed this time after I finished reading and I was left to myself in the endless darkness. Here I wasn’t injured or tired. I didn’t feel bloated from just having eaten a full me. I didn’t feel anything from my body other than that it was there actually. I opened my status and saw little plus and minus icons next to each of my stats. I found to my pleasure that I’d gained ability points. I not had 1.9AP instead of 1.3. I’d gained 0.6AP from training and probably also the fight. I’d also gained 1 skill point. I put 0.8AP into potential and 1.1 AP into Skill. Making them both an even 2.

KillerMEGA17Little Shade(E'al)18y 7m 27dPrimordial HumanFang of RehlPF15.58Drop Chance Increase0.7%MF10.84C.Physical Attack16.27S.Physical Attack22.67Pwr1.1C.Magical Attack9.24S.Magical Attack20.84Spd1.2C.Phy Atk Speed2.41S.Phy Atk Speed7.7Flx0.9C.Mag Atk Speed18.91S.Mag Atk Speed27.41Lng1.3Physical Defense22.97Cap0.8Magical Defense17.17Ptl2EquipmentMag0.7HeadNoneMnd1.2ChestR.Waterproof Outer ClothingLck0.7ArmsElven VanbraceSkl2HandsNoneLevel1WaistLeather BeltEXP2LegsR.Worn Leather PantsAP0FeetSturdy BootsSP0Currently Equip WeaponSecondary Equip WeaponRehl Relationship154Left HandElven LongswordLeft HandElven BowReputation22Right HandNoneRight HandBone Tipped Arrow

Next I opened my skills menu which had been empty until now. Now there were 4 skills and there was also a tab for purchasing skills I qualified for. I opened the tab and the list of purchasable skill revealed itself.

“Purchasable Skills

Axe

Bow

Shield

Sword

Throw

Unarmed

Improvism

Movement

Blacksmith

Herbalism

Runic Magic

Music

Guts

Comradery

Leadership

Acting

Faith”

There were a lot and these were only the ones I qualified for the moment. There’s probably many times more than this that I can unlock latter. I don’t know what the qualifications are that I need to unlock them are though. I decided it would be best to spend at least 1 skill point on each of the skills I had. Armor(Light) gave me more defence and decreased armor penetration by 5%. Spear increased my damage and speed while wielding a spear. Harden was actually really good. It increases my defence and applies 10% of my total defence against flesh wounds which normally bypass armor completely. Perception was a strange one. It increases sensory input. So it improved my vision, hearing and sense of smell. It could be useful so I increased it despite any misgiving I might have. With my last skill point I purchased the Movement skill. It cost a skill point to purchase it so I didn’t have a point to put into it. But now I could improve it the next time I got a skill point. I had a hard time picking it over the sword skill. I already had a weapon skill however so I decided to put it off until later. I closed the skill window and checked if there were any messages from the others. There was none so I spent this time catching up on some shows until my character woke up.

AUTHOR notes:

Skills:

Armor(Light), increases the defence granted by light armor. Decreases armor penetration by 5%

Spear, increases damage and speed while wielding a spear.

Harden, Increases defence and applies 10% of defence against flesh wounds.

Perception, increases sensory input. Improving vision, hearing and the sense of smell.

Locations:

Rehl - Merchants quarter, made up of a residence district, a forgers district, a commerce district, a free trade district and the produce district which take up most of the merchants quarter.

Rehl - Military quarter, made up of the Logistics district, the standing army district, the armoury district and the military residence district.

Rehl - Magic quarter, made up of the research district, the magical items district and a alchemy district which also doubles as a marketplace that focuses mostly on magical potions as well as magical materials and items.

Rehl - Education quarter, separated into different schools instead of districts. The village of Rehl is know as the education centre for the elves and elves from forests across the elven kingdom come to Rehl for it’s education facilities.

AUTHOR complains: Too lazy to do any work on making the table look better. It's kind of a pointless effort in the end.

End of Part 2_______________________________________________________________