I looked at him with some incredulity. “From what you’ve been told? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I cannot recall anything from the real world anymore. I’m not sure when it happened, probably I’ve died many times… You used to ask me a lot about it in the past.”

If he couldn’t remember anything of the real world, didn’t that make him a ‘Forsaken’ like the people he’d mentioned earlier? I decided not to ask him, since it seemed an insensitive thing to bring up.

A soft ping sounded in my ear. I instinctively slid the blade back into its black scabbard as though I’d practiced the move a thousand times. Then I opened my menu and found one of the options had an exclamation mark next to it. It was the ‘Skills & Weapon Progression’ icon, below ‘Inventory’ and above ‘World Map’. After clicking it, a different kind of screen popped up, with a list of weapons organised by type: ‘Axe’, ‘Dagger’, ‘Mace’, ‘Spear’, ‘Sword’, and so on. It was quite an exhaustive list. It included many weapons I’d never even heard of, as well as a long bit at the end all just listed as “????”, whatever that meant.

Selecting ‘Sword’ brought up three choices: ‘Dual-Wielding’, ‘One-Handed’, and ‘Two-Handed’. ‘Two-Handed’ brought up another category, which labelled various types of two-handed weapons.

Seriously, how in-depth is this??

Choosing ‘Katana’ revealed a horizontal branching tree-like path, which showed a glowing circle on the very start of it, which said: ‘Level 1.’ Below that, the text read: “Become more proficient to unlock the next level.”

At ‘Level 2’, the path gave me two choices to pick from, one which was called ‘Guard’ and the other ‘Quick Draw’. Beyond ‘Level 2’ the options were not shown, as though they’d only be revealed to me once I reached the various level thresholds.

Below the branching progression tree was a straight line, above it reading: ‘Familiarity Level’, and the name ‘Passing Breeze’ next to it. It was currently empty.

I looked back at Kerebor again, who was busy trying to scratch some spot hidden beneath several layers of armour. “Hey. Why does my sword have a level bar?”

He jumped in response. Apparently, he had forgotten I was there, though maybe I also shouldn’t have yelled it... Slowly he turned to look at me, trying to master the embarrassment that shone on his cheeks. He coughed a few times to clear his throat.

“Unique or named weapons, such as your katana, have specific levels tied to them, which, when maxed out, unlock a special ability.”

“What’s the ability for ‘Passing Breeze’?”

“I don’t know.”

That’s odd, considering everything else he knows about me? Though maybe it’s something I ought to keep hidden when I unlock it? Like a trump card?

I was starting to wonder if half the things he had said about us being close in the past were even true. Granted, he had brought me my stuff, but something just felt off. I quickly supressed my suspicions, scolding myself for being paranoid simply because I had no memory of him.

“I don’t see an option for my cape.”

“Special armours do not have any Familiarity abilities, but your cloak is also only cosmetic…” Perhaps unintentionally, his response came out sounding very condescending, as if I was supposed to have known these things.

He quickly moved on, “The one exception are shields, which are considered weapons, or part of a weapon set, perhaps. One of the reasons why I survived and was able to bring your items back to you, was because of the ‘True Guard’ ability that my shield has.” At this he pulled out a large, gleaming, mirror-polished shield, the same silvery embellishment on it as the plate mail he was wearing. “It was a unique reward for defeating one of the Boreal Knights of Gravegard in an alternate version of the boss fight. The special ability lets me block any incoming attacks for twenty seconds,” he bragged proudly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He seems fine telling me his special ability, but he doesn’t know my sword’s?? Why is that bothering me so much?

“Did you get your armour from those knights as well?” I asked, trying to supress my rising suspicions again.

“I actually crafted it myself. Bosses rarely drop an entire set of gear.” From his voice I could tell that he thought it was quite an achievement. Without anything to compare it to, I had no idea whether it was or not. “You should see something for crafting skills in a different tab of the progression menu.”

I looked back down at the screen in front of me. It took a few seconds to find the ‘tab’ he was referring to, but it was located at the top of the screen next to ‘Weapons’, and read: ‘Crafting’. When I clicked it, the list of weapons was replaced by a list of skills, starting with ‘Alchemy’ at the top, ‘Brewing’ a few steps below it, etc. It was quite exhaustive as well, with ridiculously niche skills like ‘Foraging’ or ‘Animal Husbandry’.

Suddenly feeling restless, I got to my feet and tried to dust the earth and grass from my trousers, though it made very little difference. Hopefully, once I replaced this lousy attire, I could find myself a bath, as, for some reason, I felt like I really needed one.

Kerebor also tried to stand in a hurry, and, I must admit, it kind of amused me watching him awkwardly stumble upright in a painfully slow set of turns and shifting of metal. Granted, his limited mobility was obviously balanced out by the fact that his armour seemed impenetrable.

“Are you gonna go?”

I nodded.

“I see. Before you leave, take this.” After a quick scroll through his menu, he produced a strange tapered flask in his hand, with viscous red liquid inside it. Likely reading the horror on my face, he explained, “It is a healing potion. You drink it when you are low on health.”

“Oh.” I felt like I should’ve remembered that, since, as soon as he mentioned it, it seemed so obvious. When I took it from his hands, it felt very familiar holding it between my fingers.

----------------------------------------

‘Potent Healing Potion’

-Consumable-

Drink > Potion

“A very potent healing concoction, which once imbibed grants instantaneous healing of even the most serious ailments and wounds, but only moderate regeneration of dismembered limbs.”

Use

Discard

Weight: 0.15 kilos

----------------------------------------

It was small enough that I could hide it within both of my hands, and its total weight was 150 grams, though it seemed to only contained about 100 millilitres of actual liquid inside it, which would make it possible to consume in one swig.

While fumbling one-handedly with the menu, trying to put away the flask, I asked, “How can I tell if I’m hurt?”

“Your vision will grow dark around the edges and the sound of your heartbeat will be audible in your ears. The more severe these symptoms are, the closer you are to death. Once the black edges creep into your vision is also when you begin to lose memories…” Kerebor’s expression went grim while he explained. I wondered how many times he’d been near death in his current ‘life’.

“You’re kidding me…”

“I wish I was, but no, it’s yet another horrible aspect to this realm…”

“So… what kind of stuff am I gonna forget?”

“People, skills, how to walk normally, etc. Most of these things will return over time, but, the ones that don’t, can only be returned by completing the World you’re in, which can potentially block you from being able to progress at all, if you somehow get hit enough to forget how to use your weapon…”

I winced. “I guess I don’t have a choice… not if I want to regain my memories and escape from this place…”

“Yeah. Oh, and memories sacrificed to cast your ‘Watcher Abilities’ also won’t return, so you’ll have to relearn them.”

“Say what now?”

“You don’t have to worry about that until you reach the next World,” he assured me. “But you shouldn’t use them, losing your memories permanently is not worth it. Trust me.”

Of all the things he’d told me thus far, this had the most force behind it. I utterly believed that he was right too, nothing was worth sacrificing memories for, least of all some ability, whatever it was.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him. “Is there anything else important before I go?”

“Yeah, when you make it to The Lightless City, find Ceilameed, he should be staying at the Brave Hare tavern. He is an Immortal you were close friends with in the past. At least that was what you told me.” I noticed his use of when and not if. He had high hopes of me, this guy.

“Got it.”

“Oh, and you can practice with the Quartermaster at the army camp. It’s usually not possible to do a lot of practicing, since the second Stage just throws you into the deep end, also, normally you cannot return to a Stage after you have cleared it, rendering that kind of practicing impossible too. Although, you can return to a Stage if you join the party of someone who has yet to beat it.”

“How do I start this whole thing?” I asked, gesturing around us broadly.

“You will encounter either Captain Tabian or one of his guardsmen in the Village down there, they’ll start you on your quest in this World.”

“Alright. This is a lot to remember, but I’ll try my best to keep all of that in mind,” I replied.

He nodded encouragingly, and I turned away and started my descent down the side of the hill from which he’d come.

I’d made it halfway down the hill, when Kerebor yelled at me from behind. “Be safe, okay! Don’t take too many risks!”

“I won’t!” I yelled back.