Waking up to the sound of a horse neighing, the man groggily opens his eyes and looks around. The creaking of the wooden barn being the only other sound, he sits up and finds his old aching joints no longer hurt.

"It doesn't hurt! Wow!"; he says as he looks at his arms and hands. "No wrinkles either?" He stands up and looks around, noting only the barn, a horse in the next stall, a few farm tools and a bucket. Heading over to the bucket, he looks at his reflection in the water and notes his appearance.

"Wow! I actually have hair again! It's been so long since last I had this much on my head."; he noted how full, thick and short his dark brown hair looked. "I don't have cataracts anymore either, Wow!"; he said noting his hazel eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a small silhouette blinking in the upper left corner of his vision. Curious, he looks at it more closely and some sort of transparent 'menu' appears superimposed over his view of the interior of the barn.

"What is this?"; he ponders as he looks at the menu, seeing entries for 'Profile, Status, Inventory, and Party'.

Focusing on the word 'Profile', the overlay changes:

Name:  Treo Level: 1 Race: Human Age: 16 Class: Defender Title:

"Treo? That was my gaming name. Age 16? Wow! I'm truly young again! Strange, but I can work with this."; he mutters as switches his focus to the word 'Status', causing the overlay to change again.

Name: Treo Display Name: Treo Level: 1 Display Level: 1 Race: Human Age: 16 Class: Defender Display Class: Defender Title: Display TItle: Body: 10 Attack: 10 Defense: 50 Mind: 10 Magic: 10 Magic Defense: 50 Status Condition: Normal Skill Points: 0 Skills: Defend Other (1), Taunt (1) Spells:

"Hmm, I don't know whether 10 or 50 is normal or low or whatnot. I'll have to compare with other people to determine that. Meanwhile, what are these two skills?"

He focuses on each skill in turn and a pop up appears for each:

: All attacks on target transferred to you. All defense is doubled.

: Weapon attacks on target force their attention to you for 10 seconds, does not stack. Continuous attacks restart timer.

"Definitely a tank class with these skills."; he muses as he checks out the next section.

Inventory: Item Box (innate) Shirt (equipped) Pants (equipped) Sandals (equipped) Shield Sword

"Where's the shield and sword? I don't see them anywhere."; he says as he looks around and focuses on the words 'Item Box'.

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

Item Box: Shield Sword

As he focuses on the word 'Sword', the sword materializes into his right hand. When he focuses on the word 'Shield', the shield materializes into his left hand. He then checks his status page once again and notices the differences.

Name: Treo Display Name: Treo Level: 1 Display Level: 1 Race: Human Age: 16 Class: Defender Display Class: Defender Title: Display TItle: Body: 10 Attack: 0 Defense: 100 Mind: 10 Magic: 10 Magic Defense: 100 Status Condition: Normal Skill Points: 0 Skills: Defend Other (1), Taunt (1) Spells:

"So my attack goes down to zero when I equip a sword? Weird! I guess the sword is only good for taunting. Truly a 'Defender', huh?"; he says as he focuses on his sword and shield once more, causing them to unequip and return to his item box, bringing his attack and defense to return to their previous values.

When he focuses on the word 'Party' in his menu list, a pop up appears indicating he's not in a party and that there are no visible targets to send a party invite to.

"Hmm...makes sense, I guess."; he says as he closes the menu and continues to survey his environment.

Emerging from the barn, he sees the farmhouse among other buildings, and the trees a few hundred meters away. That was when he noticed someone emerging from the trees and slowly heading towards the farmhouse. This person was wearing what looked like a hooded cloak and was holding something, though he was too far away to determine what it was.

"That doesn't look good at all."; he says as he continues observing. As the hooded figure got closer to the farmhouse, the door opened and a man wearing what looked like a farmer's hat and holding a pitchfork emerges from the farmhouse.

Taking a few steps toward the hooded figure, the farmer calls out; "What do you want?"

: "I just need some food, I've been wandering for days and have only had a few bites of bread. Please sir, can you spare me some food?"

: "I've barely got enough myself...this famine is effecting the whole countryside it seems. I'm sorry."; he said still holding the pitchfork firmly in his hands.

: Reaching inside his cloak, he pulls out what looks like a small hand crossbow and shoots it at the farmer. "I guess I'll just take yours, then. You won't be needing it any longer."

Treo's eyes widen at the sudden attack and he instinctively begins to run towards them, only realizing a second later that he still hasn't formulated a plan or bothered to equip his sword & shield.

The crossbow bolt was partially deflected by the farmer's pitchfork, causing the bolt to graze past his left ear. Treo was surprised at the farmer's reflexes, continuing to run towards him.

: "This doesn't concern you! Leave at once or you'll meet the same fate as him!"; he said as he drops the crossbow and pulls out a rapier and a dagger, one in each hand and taking an attack stance.

Treo continues to run toward the farmer and is almost within reach when the hooded figure runs to intercept him, raising his rapier to strike. The moment before the rapier strikes Treo, his shield and sword materialize in his hands and he blocks the rapier.

: "I'll keep him busy!"; he says as he moves between the farmer and the hooded figure, while setting the farmer as the target of his 'Shield Other' skill.

: "No, you won't!"; he says as he whistles loudly.

Seconds later, Treo notices from behind the hooded figure's shoulder at least a dozen other figures emerging from the trees.

: "And now you're outnumbered. You're finished!"; he says as he thrusts again with his rapier.

Treo blocks the rapier with his shield while the dagger strikes his sword arm.