Chapter 1: By a fire in the woods

In the woods, in the night, a small fire was burning.

Next to the fire sat a man, leaning forward with his hands together.

In the darkness surrounding him, just outside what could be seen, things were moving about.

Things making no sound.

The only sound that could be heard aside from the crackling fire was slow chanting.

It had probably been words at some point but the meaning had disappeared and now it was just sound.

Out in the darkness a small pale light appeared drawing closer and closer.

When it reached the fire it darted up above it, gaining momentum and then circled the fire several times glowing a warmer color before settling in front of the man.

The chanting stopped and the man looked down at the spirit hovering in front of him.

"What are you doing here little one?" he asked.

"... don now..."

The man raised an eyebrow clearly not expecting an answer.

"...Well, then let's find out i guess."

He reached for a stick and broke it into four pieces before placing them in a square around the orb.

"Do you have a name?"

"...name..."

Nodding the man picked up a bag and started to look through its contents.

"My name is Mats and I'm somewhat of a wizard"

Mats took out a pouch containing a variety of weird coins and placed one in the square under the orb

"This will give you the ability to speak"

"..."

"First" Mats continued. "you need to imagine yourself, can you do that?

"..."

"Then imagine an orb floating next to you."

"...orb"

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"And finally imagine the rune being the same orb" said Mats while pointing to the coin.

"If you can do that you will be able to learn to speak"

He nodded, placed his hands in front of himself and continued to chant.

"...Speak" The spirit thought.

It imagined itself with a small orb next to it and then the small orb being the coin on the ground.

A connection was made and a string of words passed trough the its mind.

A sheet of paper was being read over and over and over. After a while it stopped and the small orb shined.

Mats looked down on the spirit again.

"So you were able to do it?"

"Yes... I can speak now"

"Good, now can you tell me about yourself"

"I don't remember very clearly but I am sure I was human. My name, I have forgotten"

Mats nodded again.

"I have been asked to summon a nature spirit to take care of this area. You don't seem to be a one so I'm probably going to be here for a while. I can help with figuring things out for you if you want.

See if you can remember something."

The spirit looked at him. Probably looked at him at least.

"Of course I want your help! I remember aimlessly floating around for a very long time. I'm not going to just pas on this and go back to just floating."

The wizard chuckled.

"You seam human at least."

---

"What is that coin. I can speak now and I'm not even sure this is my language."

A tiny light was asking all of life's questions.

"You have gotten a skill"

A wizard was answering all of life's questions. Or at least giving an answer.

"Whats that supposed to mean"

"Well, First you made an orb witch is a tiny spirit body and then you filled it with spirit. It then became a tiny spirit. It doesn't have a soul though so its more like it was an empty body. An extension of your spirit body to be more exact."

Mats picked up the coin and held it in front of the fire.

"Putting spirit into an orb is like putting liquid in a bottle and the liquid you put in was this Rune. Well maybe that was a bad example. I'm talking about mana, magepower..."

The spirit nodded. The spirit bobbed up and down.

"Think of it like this. If you put fire spirit into an orb you get a fire orb and can use it to light fire.

The rune on this coin is made to make your spirit, your mana, into something complex and in this case its a language called common tongue or trade speech"

"Sounds convenient"

"Nothing of this rings a bell?"

"No"

"I don't know were you are from then but its probably not from around here"

He took out a new coin with a rune on it and placed it in the square

"The square is a trap you can't move out of. No hard feelings but I'm not taking any chances.

Prove that you are human and its another matter."

"Another matter as in humans are good? That's rather optimistic. Are there things here out in the woods i should be worried about?"

"It seams we have some things in common." Mats continued with a chuckle.

"I can read your spirit well enough to know that you are not that bad. However if are not human but something else i could be wrong."

"The rune before you can give you a status if you use it and a status is an orb for reading yourself and your skill orbs. The rune is a thing called a book rune. Flow your mana into it and you can see a book in your head. When you have the skill I can confirm if you are human or not."

The spirit did that and a book appeared in its non head.

"Skill orbs as in the language orb?" it said while inspecting the book.

"Or skills putt into a skill gem or a rune or sometimes a book"

"Standard System Book? So its a Skill book? And if I read it i get another skill?"

"You can put anything into an Orb and call it a Skill but some skills are more optimized, pure.

Skill books are meant to produce very pure skills...if you memorize them."

"...Oh" It said non eyeing the tick book.

"The Standard System has become so widespread that it is recognized by gods... allegedly.

When you read it over and over you will be attempting to connect to a completely pure version, by using my fireplace here."

"Are you going to be here for a long time?"

"I am attempting to contact a nature spirit, but I got you instead. Chances are I'm going to be here for a while."