The next day I woke up bright and early and headed out. I couldn’t wait to level up! I decided to go straight to the forest as the rabbits and all around the city was of course too easy for me. I was going to use a simple mana bolt; it wasn’t worth an elemental spell. It took me an eternal hour of walking to get there, but I finally arrived. I didn’t wait to wait for my stamina to regen, so I entered the forest. I noticed a wolf so I stayed hidden and started creating the rune from my mana. It had had a really explosive effect, so I wanted to try it out. I sent it off and leaned back to enjoy the show. As I relaxed, the bolt started shedding mana, and ended with a fraction of the power. It seems if I stop concentrating it dissolves. I tried again, but I couldn’t use the mana rune version as I didn’t have enough mana. The wolf searched for me and noticed the glow of my rune magic. He leaped at me just before the rune was completed, and I lost concentration so the rune dissolved.
Mana Saturated Environment
All regens are doubled for magic users. Duration 1 minute. Radius: 2 meters
Now what? I had no mana, and my stamina was dropping rapidly. I tried hitting the wolf and it took only 1 damage out of 70. I started running and kept an eye on my mana and stamina. I suddenly stopped. I took control of my mana and tried throwing it at the wolf. It hit the wolf but it started glowing. It expanded to twice its size, and then killed me with a single, very painful bite that took over half of my health.
You have been killed by your Nemesis
Double the XP loss
-50 XP (-10)
I appeared where I had spawned the first time. I leaned down to massage my leg; the bite felt like it pulled it off. I was glad I had invested in a soulbound backpack; I shuddered to think how much money I would have lost. I kept my clothes as well, which was also lucky. Wait, -10? Can that happen? I decided not to ask Egric, so I decided to ask the innkeeper. As I approached him, he noticed me.
“Ah, Jiro,” He strode towards me. “Another Chosen One has been asking around for a chosen one. He has a room in the inn, and he pays well, so I ask you stay for a bit.”
“Of course. Can you tell me about negative XP?”
He stifled a guffaw. “Happens to us all. Died a few times, eh?”
“No, in fact I just got killed by me Nemesis.”
“Nemesis? You’re unlucky.”
“What do they do?”
“Every seven days they come to try and kill you. If you manage to escape for a day, they stop for another week. They are very strong, but it depends on which type of mob it happens too. Saw a man with a chicken Nemesis. It still makes me laugh. You Nemesis can only be defeated by yourself, but then it becomes your ally. They respawn with you, so you never have to worry about them dying. They increase in level with you, when ally as when Nemesis, so it’s suggested you kill them as fast as possible.” He looked at me seriously. “Negative XP can lead to negative levels, but no one has gone beneath minus 5 as you lose 10% of your negative XP every day. Or 10, whichever is higher.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Just then, a… half elf half human? Came down the stairs. Not quite as tall as me, basic clothing, small backpack, and a bow and quiver. I could tell she was a Chosen One, I mean a… resident, like me. I walked over to introduce myself to him.
“Hi, my name is Jiro, and you?”
“Are you a gamer like me?” She asked abruptly.
“Yes, well, I call it resident.”
She relaxed and let out a sigh. “My name is Airona. Do you know how long I have seen a real person from this world? The natives are nice, but I just wanted to talk to someone who isn’t, after all, just ones and zeros,”
“Well, you are just ones and zeros. So am I. Did you think about that?”
She seemed a little shocked at my scathing reply, and to be honest, so was I. “I’m sorry, I’m just freaked out about this. I didn’t mean to insult anyone; I just wanted to speak to someone from my world.”
I relaxed my stance. “I understand. Why didn’t you appear when I did?”
“I started in a small village not too far because I wanted to start as a half elf half human. What’s your race? I don’t believe anyone would choose simple human.”
“Dragon-kin. Why did you come here?”
“A dragon-kin! I wanted to try that, but half elf seemed more interesting. I came here because I wanted to team up. Eternity is long. I don’t want to be alone.” She blushed, embarrassed. “I mean, not that kind of not being alone.”
It didn’t seem possible, but I turned even brighter red than her. My skin, hair, even my irises turned a dull scarlet. “I didn’t know that was possible.” She said, in an attempt to forget what had just happened. “Does that come with being dragon-kin?”
“Yeah, I can also change into dragon form.”
“Cool! Would you mind demonstrating for me?”
“Sure!” My coloring changed to a more normal shade, although my hair stayed red. I concentrated for a second, and my hair turned brown again. I wonder how many colors I can have my hair. It turns out any color, even reflecting, but I stopped when people started staring. Aronar included. I reminded myself to see if I could have multicolor skin.
Airona cleared his throat. “If I know you could do that as a dragon-kin, I would have chosen it in a second. Anyway, the demonstration?”
I nodded and led her to my room. I put down my bag and activated dragon form. I stopped, too late as I realized that my clothes were absorbed by the process. It would have been better if I transformed more, but I was left naked covered in a few scales. I concentrated on clothes reappearing as my blush started even turning my finger nails red. Luckily, it worked.
“When I meant demonstrate, I meant… not such quite a complete demonstration.”
It was now a race. Three fingernails were pink on one hand; the other had two and a half. “I’m sorry, I don’t have great control, and it was the second time I did it.” Four and four. I quickly reverted to human form and started turning myself normal. As before, I started changing my hair color and found that yes, I could have multicolor hair. It turn out in the end that I couldn’t have more than 3 colors at a time. I also tried changing my skin color. I could even make it look like I had tattoos! Airona coughed into his hand, and I realized I had spent ten minutes on it.
“What have you learnt?” I asked, trying to mask my lapse of concentration.
She looked away. “I haven’t learnt anything much; I just came here straight away.”
I smiled. “What do you want to learn? I know my way about town.”
“I want to learn archery, and melee combat, I think a kind of Ranger path. And you? What have you learnt?”
“Spell casting. I’m going to learn enchanting and creating mechanical creatures, but it’s all booked up for a few months.” I stood up lead her out of my room, past the innkeeper and into the street.
“Already? Isn’t it hard?”
“Not really.” I started leading the way. “Come on, I can bring you to a place to learn archery.”
It took us only a few minutes to get to the archery range, and I left Airona with a smile and a wave.