Okay, in hindsight, that snake business was a really bad idea. I had no idea that snakes weren’t suited for making armor out of, especially not scale armor, not of that quality. Let this be a lesson to you all.

~Gato, son of Alexander, teaching his grandchildren a life lesson about scales

#

Gato finally arrived at the snake farm that he knew was where he could find some information that was absolutely needed. After all, snakes are the only animal that I know of that require new skin so that their scales don’t hurt them every so often. What makes this anything other than correct?

“Welcome to the Alfheimwood snake farm,” a jovial young man called out. “How can we help… you… Gato?”

“Huh?” Gato turned to look at the speaker. “Troy? Is that you, man?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Troy answered. “What brings you here to the snake farm, anyway? I thought your parents didn’t want you to work away from home?”

Gato sighed. Everyone else in Alfheimwood knew about this, but not me? What gives? “That might be the case, yeah,” he admitted. “However, I have a bunch of scales I need to get for making some armor. Do you know what sort of snake would fit the criteria for this?”

Troy scratched the top of his head. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah, I am. Why?”

“Well, snakes don’t provide scales for armor any more than practically any other lizard in existence. You need something more powerful than that, like a dragon or something.”

Gato facepalmed. “I can’t believe I’m such an idiot that I never bothered to think about that!” he exclaimed. “Thanks for the heads up, Troy.”

“Sure, you’re welcome,” Troy answered. “However, before you go, I think I need your help.”

Gato studied the other young man for a little bit. “Sure, what do you need help with?” he finally asked.

“Well, it’s like this,” Troy said. “One of my snakes got too big for the cages we have here, and we don’t know where to go with this particular one. Do you mind helping us get rid of it before it can do any harm to the environment?”

Before Gato could reply to that question, he saw a new box appear in his field of vision. Oh, fer… again?!

“Gato?”

“Oh, sure, I’ll help you out,” Gato replied. “Where is the snake right now?” And could I please find out what these boxes even say for once in my life?

With that, the box faded from existence, giving him a twitchy eye.

“Well, the snake’s a rather strange one,” Troy told him. “It’s somehow found out how to get out of the farm, where we could keep an eye on the beast. We need to figure out where it went to, and how to prevent it from poisoning the land around it.”

Gato’s eyes threatened to pop out of his skull. “You’re kidding, right, Troy?” he practically demanded.

“I wish,” Troy answered. “Unfortunately, no, the snake is a poisonous snake of a deadly caliber.”

“How deadly are we talking about?”

“Not to the level of the fabled Black Mamba, honestly, but pretty close to that level.”

“Good grief,” Gato groaned. “How are we supposed to deal with that of all things?”

Troy could only shrug at the question.

“Well, I’ll be back in time to handle this mess,” Gato answered. “I mean, when the snake is found, I’ll kill it and let you know.”

“Thanks, Gato, I owe you one.”

“Save it for later. I need to go get some scales from a dragon right now.”

“Try the foothills on the other side of the forest, Gato,” Troy said, pointing in the direction Gato came from.

“Okay, then, on it.”

#

At the same time, over on the road near Gato’s family farm, a man wearing a robe that looked like it belonged onto a mage of some sort walked down the road. The prominent features that made this man who he was included a prayer bead that had a hundred and eight beads, multiple slips of paper in his robe pockets that had ink inscriptions on them, and a ringed staff that would always announce his presence… in theory, anyway.

I can’t believe that my little brother is running this late on me, he thought, pacing in a circle. I mean, normally, he’d send me a Shikigami familiar to let me know if anything happened to him, but there’s no sign of one of them whatsoever. What am I going to do with this situation…?

As he continued pacing around in his circle, he couldn’t help but notice something really strange in the nearby area. What’s this? A power build up from all three Dantians? Who, or what, has that powerful build up ability? It doesn’t make sense in this realm!

Indeed, as he’d determined it when he first arrived in the realm, there were not that many people who could even access a single Dantian. On top of that, the majority of the beings who could access more than one were these entities called Divine Spirits of Nature, and they only had access to two Dantians. So, for someone to access all three Dantians in this realm, it was a massive upheaval of the realm’s rules of nature.

Still… who could possibly be involved with this power build up when I know for a fact that there’s no way that a normal person here can do that? It doesn’t make sense.

At that point, he saw the source of the power build up coming from what had to be a snake farm. A snake farm? he thought. Really? Why in the name of the Buddha is there even such a thing as a snake farm?

As he scratched his bald head in confusion, he saw the source was a boy… no, a young man. This young man had dirty blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, the likes of which were utterly divine, if he was any judge of the eye color. He wore the usual fare for peasants, while carrying a sword on his shoulder that looked to be brand new in comparison.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There we go… that’s the source of the build up of power from all three Dantians! The man thought, even as he began to prepare a paper slip with ink inscriptions for some use. I’d better tell my little brother immediately about this great find!

As the young man walked on past him, he was about to start chanting a spell for use with the paper when he saw a white pigeon fly onto his arm. Before the man could question what that particular bird was up to, however…

“Sorry about the delay, big brother,” a new voice called out from within the bird. “I was delayed by a pair of pesky soldiers trying to detain me for questioning. I honestly have no idea what’s with this place, thinking that I had anything to do with the crown princess of the land going missing, but I had to do what I could to get away from them. I know, I know, no killing the weaklings if I can avoid it. I’ll make it to you as soon as I can, but if those guards try arresting me, I will have to kill them in self defense. I hope you realize that.” With that, the white pigeon vanished with a puff of smoke, being replaced with a shredded slip of paper in the shape of a caricature of a human.

Well, drat, the man thought. How am I supposed to find my little brother at this rate? This is like finding a needle in a haystack right now! How the hell do I find a needle in a haystack at this rate?!

With a sigh, he started chanting the spell he was trying to cast beforehand, before he thought something more.

What is this young man’s name, and why do I get the feeling that he’s going to be a great source for cultivation pill purposes, anyway?

#

“ACHOO!!” Gato sneezed as he walked on his way over to the foothills. Stopping momentarily, he looked down at himself, saw that he was dressed appropriately for the fall weather, before he turned around, looking for something, anything, to justify what happened. Did someone talk about me behind my back?

With a shrug, he walked on, taking a few paces before he found himself in the middle of a clearing in the woods. The trees were normal, but the treasure chest was not, nor was the fact that something was sticking out of the lid of the chest. In fact…

I’d better fix this, he thought, walking over to the treasure chest. When he got to the chest, he had barely touched the lid when it opened on its own for him, a book floating in midair. Huh?!

[??? ???? ???????? ??? ???????? ????. ????? ??? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ???????-?

Y/N]

Still more text that I can’t read to save my life… Gato sighed irritably when he saw the box. Well, if it’s any consolation, this is probably just a hallucination I’m getting stuck with. No need to worry about it. With that, he attempted to leave the clearing and the book behind…

…

…

…except that he was stuck in place for the time being.

What in the world?! Gato felt his eyes widen in shock. What happened here?! Why can’t I move?!

With a brief check of his body, he realized he could only move his right arm, hand, and index finger. Why, he wasn’t entirely sure, not really.

Maybe it has to do with the boxes in my vision at more times than ever before… He moved his finger to the two different letters that he knew were supposed to mean something in this context. Okay, here goes nothing, then… what happens if I press the letter on the left? He pressed it.

At that point, a jolt of pain filled his entire being, resulting in Gato nearly screaming from the experience. As it stood, though, he clenched his mouth shut for the express purpose of keeping himself safe from different wild animals. He wasn’t stupid, after all.

After what he thought had to be an hour of continuous torture from the pain, it finally stopped. What the… what happened? How long did that actually take? At that point, another box appeared in his vision…

[Congratulations! You have fully assimilated the tutorial into your being. You obtained 500 XP.]

Gato’s eyes bugged out. I can read it now? But how?! I thought I was incapable of reading and writing because of a lack of education? A third box appeared in his vision.

[About that… going through the tutorial means you get to know how to read and write these days, although you will need to learn how to use certain skills by absorbing books that contain those skills. For instance, you can’t simply have the greatest knowledge of how to read, write, and do mathematical formulas right off the bat. You wouldn’t have any incentive to learn that way.]

Gato sighed. I guess that makes sense… He then picked up the book that was floating in midair earlier, now nothing more than a simple tome that seemed to be blank. He opened it up.

“The boxes you had previously seen in your field of vision that are currently closed said: [Sleeping in a well-made bed healed all physical health and mental energy.] [Due to continuous running, your Agility Score has gone up by 1.] [Cutscene Time!] [You have obtained the Tutorial Book. Would you like to activate the tutorial? Y/N]”

Gato nodded before he closed the book and put it in his bag. Now, what do I need to do next? Get used to the boxes in my vision or something like that? I’m not entirely sure…

[You have a lot to do, I hope you realize, young man. Be prepared for just about anything.]

Gato sighed in irritation. Oh, sure, like that’s anywhere near helpful at a time like this. I mean, really, how am I supposed to get prepared for just about anything at this rate?

[You’ll find out, no need to worry yourself.]

Just my stinkin’ luck…

[Speaking of luck, you need to keep in mind that your stats need to be adjusted pretty soon. Perhaps you should invest some of your points in improving the Luck Stat?]

What are you talking about, anyway?

[Oh, wait, you didn’t earn any Stat Points recently… my mistake. Sorry about that.]

Gato groaned, placing both of his hands on his face. This is completely not fair…

[On the plus side, you’re about ready to gain more stat points for increasing your stats. Keep that in mind, will you?]

Gato looked at the box that appeared this time. With a sigh, he simply nodded, before closing the boxes in his vision manually. Now, how to best find that dragon and get the scales off of it… At that point, a map appeared in the top right corner of his vision. What now? I don’t get it at all… but I think that I will.

[That is the mini-map feature. Do you see the blinking dot in the center of the map? That’s your current position. Now, zoom the map out a bit, then tell me what you see in the immediate area.]

Gato moved to do as told, but then paused in mid-motion. Do I need to physically zoom this out?

[No, that’s generally ill-advised. You don’t want to be seen as crazy, do you?]

Gato facepalmed. Good point… sorry about the confusion.

[No problem. Now, let me show you how to adjust the mini-map zoom feature, alright?]

Yeah, it’s alright, Gato nodded.

[To zoom out, tell the map to zoom out mentally. To zoom in, do the reverse, but still mentally.]

Gato removed the palm from his face and groaned. Of course… I should have figured.

[No matter. It’s time to get you on the right way to the dragon that has the scales.]

Gato nodded before he zoomed the map out a bit. Now… where are the foothills, again?

[A fair distance to the west, past the border of the woods, young one.]

Thank you. That’s going to make my life a lot easier. With that, Gato closed the boxes in his vision again, before walking on the way to his next stop on this trek.