I open my eyes groggily and blink the sleep away from them. My vision slowly clears, and I start to take a look at my surroundings. It takes a moment for my sleep-riddled brain to comprehend what it is seeing. A clearing in what looks like a massive forest for as far as the eye can see.

"Where am I?"

"This isn't my apartment. Where the heck am I?"

While looking at my surroundings, I start to freak out more than I would like to admit. I begin to let out shuddering breaths. I know for a fact that I went to sleep in my own bed after work last night.

"Calm down, Matt"

I start to take calming breaths through the nose and out through the mouth. Yeah, just like that. Now that I've calmed down let's think about this.

How did I end up here?

"Where even is here?" I ask aloud

Talking seems to be helping calm my nerves some, even if there's no one to listen.

This looks like a forest and a familiar forest at that.

Why does this place look familiar?

I've never even been to a forest before. Heck, I've barely even left the city in the last decade. I stand up and try to gauge my current situation. I'm in an unknown location that I got to somehow. Just how did I end up here? I reach into my pocket to check for my phone.

"Why do my pants not have pockets? They should definitely have pockets."

I know that I don't own any pants without pockets. Where did these even come from? A wave of nausea washed over me as memories flooded my mind. I did fall asleep in my bed last night, but I got a call in the middle of the night from my brother. He needed me to pick him up since his car had broken down. I didn't even bother to question it. This wasn't the first time and would likely be the last time. On my way to him, though, something happened.

"What happened?"

I struggle to try and remember what happened. While trying to remember, I get a massive headache, and nausea threatens me.

"Why does it hurt to remember this? "

I find a nearby tree to support myself so I don't collapse as I dry heave. Nothing comes out. It feels like I haven't eaten anything. I have yet to eat breakfast, but I had dinner last night. It may not have been much, but something should have come up.

"What is going on?"

I recline against the tree and slump to the ground, trying to remember what happened. Then like a freight train, it hits me.

I had died.

"I died?!?" I screamed out.

I start to freak out once again for the second time in a matter of minutes. I really hope this doesn't become a new habit of mine. Thankfully the tree behind me is nice and sturdy as it supports my slumped form.

I try to take some calming breaths and struggle to keep the tears away as I remember what had happened. Though I fail to keep the tears away. As the tears roll down my face, I remember what happened the night before

As I was on my way to pick my brother up, I stopped to put gas in my car. The part of town my brother was in wasn't the safest of places. Heck, most places in the city I lived in weren't safe these days. I was just unlucky enough that the store I stopped at was robbed. This isn't all that uncommon on this side of town, but most ended without any violence. If you shoot someone or beat someone, that's a good way of getting the authorities on you, and no one wants that.

This time was different, though. The robber must have been nervous. It was probably his first time doing something like this. I say this because his hands must have been slippery from sweat, or at least that's the only thing I could think of as I looked back on it. He dropped his gun, and it went off as it hit the hard-tiled floor.

The bullet went straight through my heart.

"I was shot," I whisper in a tone of pure disbelief.

At first, all I could feel was the heat. It was pure agony. It felt like someone had shoved a red-hot poker through the middle of my chest.

Then there was a warmth that started to flow down my chest.

Thinking back on it, that was just my blood flowing out of the wound. When the guy saw me, he panicked and ran, leaving the gun. I mean, that makes sense. He just killed a guy during a robbery.

At least they should be able to find the guy that killed me. That's some solace. Dang, James is going to think I bailed on him or something.

"Sorry, dude. I hope you got a ride."

Well, I didn't have a will or anything, but he would probably end up with my car, so it won't break down on him anymore.

Wait, if I died, is this heaven?

"This doesn't look like heaven," I say aloud as I look around once more, seeing only forest everywhere

I never believed in that kind of stuff.

If this was heaven, though, should there be something or someone greeting me?

“Could this be hell?”I ponder quietly to my self.

I mean, I wasn't a horrible person but not a saint by any means. Wait, after I died, I remember hearing a voice.

"What did it say?" I wonder aloud

"Why can't I remember?"

Dang, this is frustrating! Why is it so fuzzy?

Oh yeah, probably because I was dead when that happened right. Well, still, this sucks, I hope some of it comes back to me.

Wait!

It said transferring character! I remember that!

Am I the character that it was talking about?

If so, just where did I get transferred to?

If I was transferred somewhere after death, why does this clearing look so familiar?

There's just something about this place. I can't quite put my finger on it. I feel like I should know it for some reason!

But Why?

Why should I know a forest if I've never been to one?

The only forest that even comes to mind is the forest of beginnings in ErosiaOnline.

Then it clicked in my mind.

I know what this place looks like

"No way"

"There's no way that's possible!"

"Is there?"

This looked exactly like the Forest of Beginnings!

This looked exactly like the starting zone of my favorite VRMMO.

The clearing of tall grass is surrounded by tall trees that you can't see past.

Wow, I haven't been here in years. I mostly see it in gameplay or tutorial videos on the net these days. EO wasn't the most popular by far due to its higher realism and the fact that it's a fantasy setting. Nowadays, almost everyone wants to play sci-fi or the classic FPS stuff, but I've always been quite fond of fantasy myself.

So when I stumbled across EO that had actual crafting classes! Can you imagine? No one does that. They're always an addition, not the star. Something about it just clicked for me. When I first played it, I ended up choosing the Blacksmithing class instead of something more combat-oriented.

Though since I only ever played EO on the weekends or after work, I never really got well-known as a blacksmith. It took ages to craft something! That was part of their realism.

I spent a good portion of my play time crafting weapons. Who doesn't want to make cool swords in a fantasy game? The weapons I made during my meager few hours of playing sold well enough for my skill level. This let me earn some cash from it, which was nice, all things considered.

Gaming and earning money without being a pro? Now that was nice.

That feature was the final thing that sold the game for me.

Though if I died, would I still be able to make money?

"This is insane."

The company that ran EO didn't want the players to just sell stuff through third-party sites, or so they said in their press releases. So they ended up adding a feature in the game that allowed you to buy and sell items from other players with real money or in-game gold.

I know what this sounds like. It's not just pay to win.

Well, alright, it was. But you had to buy from other players, so it balanced out! Or so I told myself.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Each sale had a ten percent service fee, though. Of course, they had to make sure they were still making money off of it. That didn't really matter to me.

I had found a way to make money from gaming while still having fun! I even started to consider quitting my dead-end job doing this full-time.

Well, that doesn't look like it's happening now.

Dang, and I just started to get good.

Or, well, maybe it is?

If this really is EO, then maybe?

"Are there other players here?" I wondered aloud.

There is an awful lot to think about.

Guess the first step is getting out of this tutorial zone and picking a class.

"Should I do blacksmith again?"

It's been a while since I've been here in person, well, virtual person originally, I guess.

"Is this virtual still?"

I should have spawned with a sword, and all I have to do is defeat a slime, and then it should transport me to the tutorial town. I made my way back to the spot where I first woke up. Once there, I searched around in the tall grass, feeling my way about until I felt it.

The trusty starter sword!

I held that iron blade high as if I were about to tell a group of anthropomorphic cats to go.

"Thunder C.." I started the chant before I cringed inwardly

Now all I need to do is find that slime. Weird; there should be a quest prompt or something.

Wait, have I even tried to call up my HUD yet?

The moment that I thought that, my HUD instantly appeared before me.

Good, it's still thought-activated, like in EO.

Some of those older VRMMOs had you shouting all your commands out, and it got really annoying real quick.

Alright, It's showing my health, mana, and stamina bars in the top left like normal. That's good.

Let's check how much of a health, mana, and stamina pool I have since I don't remember putting in any stats or even any of the character creation process.

I wonder what my Avatar looks like.

Did it default to my real body?

"I hope not."

I wasn't the worst-looking of guys back when I was alive. That's a strange thought. If I'm moving and feeling stuff, aren't I alive?

"Am I even alive?"

A shiver ran up my spine when that came out of my mouth.

Let's not think about that.

So yeah, I wasn't bad looking, but I could have been better looking too. Just your run-of-the-mill average white guy. Five foot eight inches tall. A little more weight than I should have. Dang, I always did mean to get a gym membership but never did. Thankfully I hadn't started balding yet. I was thirty, and I've seen some poor dudes lose their hair by twenty-five. I had a well-trimmed beard that I was proud of. Though, the best thing I had going for me was my eyes. They were a bright silvery blue. I really loved my eyes.

"What was I doing?"

Oh yeah, I was checking my health and stuff!

I thought, 'Check health,' and it came back in that normal soft tone that I remember hearing so much during my time playing EO.

"Current health is 30 out of a maximum of 30."

Alright, that's not bad for a level zero in the starting zone. That was another quirk of EO. They started everyone at level 0 instead of level 1. They said it was something about how everyone should start from nothing.

Next, I thought, 'Check mana,' and once again, that soft tone rang out.

"Current mana 5 out of a maximum of 5."

Wow, okay, that's a bit low. Just what is my intelligence stat at? I never really did use magic before, but still, starting mana is usually at least 10. Finally, I thought, 'Check stamina.' The system responded instantly

"Current stamina 20 out of a maximum of 20."

Alright, so the system is working properly so far, which is good. So I have above-average health and stamina while my mana is below average.

"I can work with this."

Mana isn't really needed all that much if I want to be a blacksmith again, at least to where I was in blacksmithing. I did hear some stories about magical blacksmithing and needing good mana control for some of the more magically attuned metals.

Guess I'll find out eventually.

Well, anyways, having high health and stamina worked out for most basic blacksmithing I had done. I almost wish my health and stamina were reversed, though. Getting tired less while swinging a blacksmith's hammer would always come in handy. More stamina means more hammer swings. More hammer swings mean more metalwork.

My next thought was to bring up the quest screen, and on cue, it popped up.

"Current quest, defeat slime in The Forest of Beginnings:

"Reward Level up"

"Reward Class advancement"

"Reward ten copper coins."

Alright, that's good. The quest rewards seem to be the same that I remember.

It's nice that the first level is a give-me since you started out at level zero in the tutorial.

Now I just need to find that slime.

"Where are you, Mr.Slime."

One might think it would just be there in the clearing where you start, but that's just not how EO works. Mobs moved and wandered around to try and add to that sense of realism, so I may have to search for it for a bit. So in an effort to do that, I stood up, dusted myself off, and started that search.

It could very well be in the clearing but with this tall grass. Though it wouldn't be all hard to tell. Slimes dissolve almost everything they touch.

I began to use the starter sword to cut a trail in the tall grass, hoping to find evidence of the slime before I went into the forest.

How long was I just lying there asleep?

I hope it wasn't too long else this slime might take a while to find. The slime usually spawns ten paces from where when you enter The Forest of Beginnings. I cut the grass on my way to where it should have spawned and found that ever-familiar slimy trail leading into the forest.

This is going to be a thing now, isn't it?

While I followed that slime trail, I had time to think some things over.

I had died, and now I'm somehow in a video game.

How did this happen?

Is any of this real?

Is this all just in my head as I lay on the floor dying?

Everything feels too real, though.

The softness of the grass.

The gentle breeze blowing through the trees

The rich earthy smell of the forest around me.

This all feels too real to be a video game.

Even when I had played this game, nothing ever felt this real.

They really did their best when they made EO, but without an expensive full immersion rig, you could tell it was a game through the lack of small details you take for granted in the real world.

A familiar sound brought me out of my thoughts.

It was the sound of a slime oozing itself over and through the underbrush in the forest.

It was close.

I've hunted thousands of slimes during my time playing EO. They tended to drop some fairly useful items for blacksmithing. Which was their slime and their core. Though I've never really heard of other blacksmiths using their materials for blacksmithing. It was mostly just Alchemists who used them for some potions and such. Though I found the slime to be quite the nice quenching liquid. It had just the right viscosity if you neutralized the acid, which was fairly easy. All you had to do was mix in a bit of campfire ash, and boom, you got yourself some acid-free slime. You could even get different types of liquid depending on what kind of slime you got the slime from. Then there is their core. Since it was naturally acid resistant, it had some nice uses. You could crush it up and use it as a flux, which gave weapons acid-resistant properties. I particularly liked this application since it lets you hunt more slimes. You could also use the powdered core to coat your clothes to help with acid resistance. This wasn't the most effective use, but it helped.

Both of these made blacksmithing much easier at lower levels since you could just hunt slime to get them, or if you had some coin, you could always buy them from other players. Since they were considered vendor trash, you could almost always get them for cheaper than normal blacksmithing materials that shops sell. Though there are always those, who try to upsell you. This made slime materials really handy if you were like me and were trying to save as much coin as possible like I was.

Hopefully, I get lucky, and this slime drops both the slime and the core. It would be such a nice start to get my blacksmithing going again.

The slime sounds closer now. It shouldn't be that much further until I find it. Then I can beat it and leave the tutorial zone. I peek out from behind a tree to try and see the slime without being caught by it.

It's just sitting there, dissolving leaves as it oozes its way along the ground.

Nice! There it is, now. All I need to do is to try and sneak up on it. Then I should be able to break its core before it can even get an attack off on me.

Slimes may seem like the easiest monster out there, but their acid can dissolve just about anything, and without any skills to help me, it was going to come down to pure sword-fighting capability.

This might suck a bit.

I'm used to using hammers, not swords. Blacksmiths get a bonus to attack when using hammers for obvious reasons. So that's all I've ever really used since picking the class, and hammers proved to be better at fighting slimes. Can just crush their core rather than trying to cut it. Though when you have a sword, you do what sword fighters do. You swing wildly until the thing you are trying to kill dies.

"This is going to suck," I whisper quietly to myself

I try to sneak out from behind the tree and get about three feet away from the slime before I make the most classic of mistakes. I step on a stick and break it. I peer over at the slime to see if it noticed me.

It had.

"Well, hec..."

Before I could even finish speaking, the slime turned on me aggressively and sent out tendrils of itself to try and grab me. I manage to dodge out of the way of the first one trying to remember what combat felt like in EO. That's the only place I've ever fought before. Though something about this feels different.

Why does this feel different?

My errant thoughts caused me to stumble when I attempted the second dodge, and a slimy tendril hit me. It eats away a strip in the simple tutorial clothing with its powerful acid.

The pain hits me a second later.

"Aaaugh" I scream out in pain

It was never this bad in EO!

Even when I read the stories of people using full immersion rigs, they never sounded as bad as this. The company set the max pain threshold to twenty percent.

This felt real.

It isn't, though, right?

There's no way.

This felt like my flesh was actually getting eaten away by the acid of the slime.

While reeling from the pain, I almost failed to dodge the third strike. I managed to dodge just in time. That was close, too close.

I do not want to get hit again.

I look at my health pool and see that it hasn't even gone down a noticeable amount.

I think 'Check health.'

I need to know how much damage each of these acid tendrils does.

"Current health 28 out of a maximum 30."

Two health

That attack only took two health.

I don't even want to imagine what a ten-point strike would do.

I need to end this and end it fast.

I run at the slime, doing my best to dodge when possible, which frankly isn't that great. When I do get hit, I just grit my teeth, trying not to scream out in pain. This hurts worse than anything I've ever felt before.

Well, almost anything.

Being shot through the heart hurt a bit more than this. Given it only lasted a few seconds before I lost all feeling. This might suck more since it's still ongoing.

That stray thought made me miss another dodge as I approached that dangerous little blob. I just need to get close enough to break this stupid thing's core. I finally started to close the distance. I bring my sword down to slice that evil little slime's core.

I have decided that slimes are evil creatures now

Killing them is the right thing to do to help my fellow man.

My swing goes wide due to another acid tendril hitting me, this time hitting square on my sword arm. It almost caused me to drop my sword.

God, this hurts so much.

I pull my sword back up and swing down again, aiming for another strike. It actually hit the slime this time!

"Yes!" I exclaim loudly

Only to notice a second later that I managed to miss the core. The evil little slime's acid starts to eat away at my blade.

Well, that's not good.

Being this close makes it almost impossible to dodge any of the slime attacks with any real effect. I watch as my health slowly starts to dwindle. Though it's faster than I would like. Each hit burns away a strip of clothing and leaves a bright red mark on my skin.

I swing my sword again and again, narrowly missing that tiny core each time. My sword is little more than a strangely warped dagger.

Am I going to die again?

To a slime of all things?

I think I might hate slimes now.

As my health starts to near zero, my vision starts to fade, and I get a flashing red prompt from the system.

"Current health is below 10% of its maximum."

I make one last-ditch attempt at defeating this evil little glob of pure hatred before me. I attempt to deliver a pommel strike to the slimes core having nothing else to hit it with. The pommel connects with a satisfying crunch.

"Critical hit!"

"You have dealt bonus damage to 'Tutorial slime' by using a blunt attack."

"You have killed tutorial slime."

"You gain 1 exp."

I did it!

I got the stupid little thing.

"Die, you dumb slime," I say through gritted teeth

The core turns to dust, and the slime's acid dissipates, oozing into the ground. I begin to pass out from exhaustion and pain. Before that, I thought, 'Loot.' I went through all that effort. I am going to loot this slime.

"You have looted 'Tutorial Slime' and have gained the item 'Slime Core'"

"You have looted 'Tutorial Slime' and have gained the item 'Slime's Slime'"

As the world around me begins to fade as sleepness takes me, I hear the system sound out

"Quest: Defeat the Slime completed."

"Granting rewards. "

"Reward level up has been granted."

"Level up"

"You have leveled up to Level One. Congratulations."

"Please allocate remaining (3) stat points."

"Reward job advancement has been granted."

"Please select a class."

"Reward ten copper has been granted."

"10 copper coins have been added to your inventory."

Then, sleep took me.