Chapter 3 – Am I in Game of Thrones?
As I approached the two men, they invited me to take a seat at the table. Cloak said “I am Ken, a mage and this is my companion Yurin. He is a warrior. Would you like a cup of tea, Otherworlder?”
I hesitated, thinking this might be a simulation again and the tea I get might be fake plus I had no money. Cloak smiled at my hesitation and said, “Consider this an additional gift from us, apart from your novice gift bag.”
Damn, these guys truly turned out to be my tutorial guides!
As I sat down, both Ken and Yurin started filling me up on what this world is all about, their role and my role.
Based on the information gathered, this planet is called ‘Xenovia’ (temporarily) and is a newly discovered / created planet, so not a lot of information is available about it. (I am not sure how new planets come into existence, but this point was so beyond my understanding that I decided to just take it for what it was). Apparently, the Central Galaxy Management (CGM) team hosts an event inviting certain number of participants ages between 15 to 20 from all eligible planets, including fantasy worlds, cultivation worlds, beasts, and demons, so on and so forth. The winner of this event becomes the owner of the newly discovered planet and has huge amounts of rights on how the planet will be further cultivated and how the life on the planet will progress. As the planet is further explored and resources discovered, the value of the planet and thus, the award may turn out to be anywhere between normal to exceptional. The winner will also get to decide the final name of this planet. Some resources will be used up during the event but considering the vastness of the planet vs limited number of participants, this was taken as an acceptable loss. To ensure that participants were not just siphoning off resources and passing it on to their mother planets, various restrictions had been set up, the specifics of which were above my grade.
Earth in the past has been too low level to participate, however taking into consideration the environmental issues and the fact that earth might be heading to destruction in a couple of centuries, Central Galaxy Management (CGM) decided to run a pilot by allowing a single participant from earth into this event – albeit me. I was given a 7-day novice period on this planet to explore and grow, in consideration of my weak stats, but they don’t want to seem too biased so no other help will be coming my way. The event is scheduled to start at the end of my novice period – so at least I don’t need to look for a place to stay.
I wanted to ask about the additional privileges that were mentioned in the italicized footnote on my status, but for some reason I felt it would not be prudent to share anything about it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I thought for a while, processing this information, and asked “would you be guiding me or helping me guard during the next 7 days?”
Both Ken and Yurin started laughing, LOL type of laughter at that, with tears running down their cheeks. WTH! I felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment and a tinge of anger.
Yurin somewhat condescendingly responded with a smirk “these are just our thought projections and not our physical bodies. If you think of our name or call out to us, we can probably answer some additional questions in the coming days but that is all the help you will be getting lad.”
I was a bit disappointed but nodded in understanding nonetheless, as this was within my expectations. I was ready to be rebuffed but still boldly asked “what do you think I should do next?” after all this was not a familiar situation for me.
Ken responded “I think you should get out of this novice area and explore as much as possible. You need to unlock your skills so you should try various ways and get stronger. Most of the participants are somewhat familiar with the events process and would be several times stronger than you. The template of the event is random but certain similarities are unavoidable. If you are asking about safety, then there is none. The death during novice period or during the event is all real death. If you manage to hide during novice period and stay safe you will be too weak during the event and will die rather fast.”
I appreciated their candid thoughts and decided to return to the safe room after saying goodbyes. I needed to scream and vent, and I didn’t want to sound weak in front of these supercilious old men.
I spent the next few hours running through various plans in my head, they all ended with at one single point – act. I seriously tried to test if there was anything at all I could carry from this room in my inventory or in my hand – which failed. Based on the screen watch, I arrived in this world at about 8 am and it was past noon now. I took a bath and cooked the 2 eggs for lunch. I decided to save bread and sausage for now just in case I couldn’t return or not able to build fire outside, these foods could be eaten raw. I drank from the tap in the room to save some water which might be important later. I did consider sickness etc. but to be honest I was reaching the point of numbness, where I just didn’t care anymore.
I walked out and headed further down from the shop where I had earlier met Ken and Yurin. The shop was still there but everything else was all quiet. I realized; I might be the only person human, apart from the monsters, on this entire planet right now.
As I walked further, I crossed a faint white boundary and suddenly the road turned into a weeded path and in front of me was a lush forest. The trees were tall, maybe as tall as a 6 / 7 story building and the ground below was laden with foliage with occasional bushes, weeds, and plants. I couldn’t hear any insects or crickets as of now, but I was sure this was just the calm before the storm.
Was I scared? Of course I was. I am not stupid.