My vision returns and I find myself on a field of slightly glittering snow. Beside me are 2 other people: A tall muscular man with Golden braided hair and a thick beard wearing plate and carrying a Great-axe (So he must be a barbie then) and a male Satyr with Ice-coloured hair as well big curved horns atop his head. He’s wearing a hoodless cloth robe and carries a staff with a blue crystal inside.
So we have a barbie, me and a satyr frost mage. A pretty good composition then. Half expected all barbies but phew, got lucky there.
All of us look at eachother checking out who we are.
However, after they glanced my way they quickly look away for some reason.
O...k?
“What’s wrong guys?”
…
..
.
Both massage their temples for a couple of seconds before they let out a loud sigh of…relief? I’m confused.
“Wahahaha, is it just three of us mighty enough to try the tundra and snow? Then more killing for me!” Barbie swings round speaking with a booming voice and laughs grandly making his braids shake
“Please lower your voice. It poisons my ears” The Satyr to my right shows a displeased expression while he talks in an airy manner
“Now now you two, play nice. Or we’re going to get eaten”
I believe they were about to say ‘just what do you mean?’ But they figured it out quite quickly once they heard the growl.
Turning away from eachother they face my direction and see a wolf growling as it looks at us from distance.
Right now I’m in a cold sweat. Not because it’s the temperature of ice around me, it’s because of that wolf. In RPG’s the wolf is usually the first aggressive animal you’d fight against at about…level 4 or 5. Also being a snow wolf their levels might be even higher. Thus our particular situation is quite…well, dangerous.
The others quickly realize that too and the 3 of us back away from the wolf slowly.
Damn, if we were all at least level 4 we might be able to take it on. But since we’re just level 1, we try to escape the threat range.
All in all 1 wolf against 3 people no matter the levels will end in our victory, but that’s if it was 1 to 3. If the wolf calls his pack we’re mincemeat.
Oddly enough, even though we’ve moved quite a distance, the wolf is still threatened by us and although it hasn’t called its pack yet, I believe it can still take us out on its own.
We get about 10 metres away when we hear another growl towards where we were going. I peek back to see another wolf waiting at the back. At that moment I guessed the others did the same to either side of me.
Sandwiched between two growling wolves, we quickly knock our heads together.
“Let’s just break through them, if we get to the starting village we will be fine” Barbie says in a gruff voice
“IF we get to the starting village you mean” Satyr points out.
But Barbie does have a point.
Letting Barbie lead, we turn to the right and begin charging towards the village I spotted a second ago.
One of the wolves quickly bounds up to us and Barbie goes to intercept it. He tries to ward off the wolf with his large axe but the wolf breaks through his defense and rakes a huge gash in his armor. Seem like he’s fine though, with his armor and all.
“They take about 40 health off with 1 clean swipe” He gasps
We race up either side of him and aggroing the wolf with a strike of my axe I continue past it. 40 health for fully plate armored, I’ll die if I get hit once (I’ve only got 110 hp apparently).
-2 (318/320)
The wolf aggroes onto me before an icebolt pierces it right flank. The wolf howls and I see its health go down a massive 5 with that hit
-5 (313/320)
There’s no way we’re going to beat this thing.
“SLASH” Barbie’s axe glows bright red and he swings it lightning fast. The axe slashes down at the wolf knocking it into the ground
-20 (293/320)
20 damage! My god that is a skill and a half! It also stunned the wolf for a second and we all rush past it leaving it a few metres behind us.
Turning with a howl the wolf begins to chase us, thankfully alone for some reason.
The village is about 300 metres away, so we have a good minute of battling ahead of us.
The wolf bounds up to Barbie, who is at the back due to his armor weight, and rakes a claw at his back.
Taking the blow he doesn’t stop running but he looks like he’s on death’s edge when I take a peek back.
“Switch guard!”
I immediately lower my speed so that Barbie overtakes me and while running I look at the wolf keeping an eye on it. Quickly it bounds back up and pounces on me.
Diving to the side I feel a sharp pain before I hit the ground, roll and get back up maintaining most of my speed.
-42 (68/110)
Jesus! And that was a glancing blow. I’d definitely get killed if it was a clean hit!
“Switch Guard!!” I yell out as I increase my speed and overtake Barbie once more.
Somewhat hesitant, the mage gets behind Barbie and looks at the wolf who is regaining speed.
Ok 200 metres left.
The wolf reaches the mage and as it pounces it receives an icebolt in the face stammering it and stopping its attack.
Quickly gaining some ground we get a bit further away but it once again reaches us and the mage quickly shoots another icebolt to the face.
100 metres left.
“Switch Guard!” Out of mana?
Damning my health pool I switch to the back since I think I’m the only one who can take a glancing hit.
Back to the rear, the sight of the white wolf zooming towards me is quite terrifying but I keep my composure or I’ll die.
The wolf pounces at me for a last time but I add a bit of strength to my legs and speed up getting only a grazing hit, although slightly deeper than last time.
-66 (2/110)
OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!!!
30 metres left to town.
I SPRINT AS FAST I POSSIBLY COULD AND DIVE INTO THE TOWN BORDERS just after the mage dives in and Barbie true to the feeling dives in with a heavy thud on the ground.
The wolf skids a few metres towards up before stopping at the town entrance.
With a low growl it leaves.
Collectively sighing we lie in the cool snow while regaining our breath.
If you’ve ever tried to sprint 100 metres you’ll know how tiring it is, now try a 300 metre sprint with a wolf attacking you! The huffing and puffing does go a bit quicker than I’d expect though, probably a game thing.
So once breath is regained, we stand up and check out our surroundings.
We seem to be in a small village of sorts. I say village but really it just looks like a small collection of houses and what looks like a black-smith. The houses number 10 in total so this village is decently small. The town walls are meters high of packed snow which I don’t think give any defensive value but a few guards are walking atop its walls in thick fur. One guard, a burly man with a thick mustache is looking down at us arms crossed.
Making eye contact, he nods at us before returning to his duties (Well guessing the people here are going to be as cold as the land we’re in). I didn’t really get proper time to get used to the cold but I can now feel my goosebumps and hear my chattering teeth (Must be absolutely freezing).
I check out the others and they seem to be pretty chilly too, especially Barbie since his armor transmits cold better (or doesn’t keep heat same difference).
“Alright, best if we ask around town for some quests and the lowest level hunting spots” Barbie once again takes the lead saying a few smart lines
“Hmm that’d be a good idea; also we may want to look for an inn or a place to rest.” The mage grimaces
“Hah! Are you still tired? We’ve only run away, not defeated the beast” Barbie boisterously taunts the mage who is clutching his stomach.
“How about we check a couple of houses each and then meet back here in an hour?” I propose to the two
“Sounds good, I’ll take these three” Barbie points a trio of houses lines next to the blacksmith “Name’s Husky”
“I’ll take this lot” The mage points at the three houses to the left, opposite the blacksmith “You may call me Jöt” (Joot).
“And I’m left with the dodgy trio over in the distance, great” My 3 houses are in the far side of the village, which is extremely close (maybe a kilometer at most). “Kal’s my name”
I hear an audible sigh of relief from Husky. Hmm?
“Now let us me depart and meet once again in this place to continue our battle”
We disperse and head off to our respective locations.
I stroll down the snowy street.
“Status?” A status window thankfully pops in-front of me
[table]
[table][table]
[table]
NAME:Kal (Iskadi)TITLE:(None)Class Tree:WandererClass:NoneRace:NymphGender:Trap (female)Level:1Experience:0%STATUS:Remaining Points (0)Health Points:25/110Hp Regen (out of combat):1secRage:0/100Rage decrease (out of combat)1/secSTR:10TGH:10AGI:10VIT:10INT:10MND:10ATTK:Phys 11-14Extra:noneDEF:18M.RES:17Satiety:90/100 (well fed)SKILLS:
One-handed Axe Mastery [lvl1]
-Hack (Active)
Leather Mastery [lvl1]
Racials [Max]
-Radiating Charm (Active)
-Nature's Safe-keeper
-Nature Attuned
-Man's Desire
->Woman's Desire
Oh racials. Completely forgot that I do get those. I am more than slightly worried about this man’s desire/woman’s desire (though I may(?) not mind that as much).
Clicking on the skill’s their respective windows pop up:
Sub-Skill:Hack [lvl1](levels increase with one-handed axe mastery)
Gives a mighty hack with your weapon dealing 150% damageCost: 25 rage
Sub-Skill:Radiating CharmRacial active cosmetic skill
Makes the Nymph's skin glow and radiate the Nymph's beauty further. All within sight become entranced, focusing only on the NymphCost: none, Duration: Sustained
Sub-Skill:Nature's Safe KeeperRacial passive skill
The Nypmh is naturally trusted by nature, thus herbs picked and natural items collected will have a higher chance fo being more quantity and higher qualityCost: none, Duration: Permanant
Sub-Skill:Nature-AttunedRacial passive cosmetic skill
The Nymph is one with nature and if staying in the same place for a while, critters and other peaceful animals may appearCost: none, Duration: Permanent
Sub-Skill + Derivative:Man's Desire + Woman's DesireRacial passive skill
Nymphs, with their superior beauty naturally take the hearts of those who see them. Usually it is limited to the opposite gender feeling desire for them but in this particular Nymph's case, Women may also feel this desire towards the Nymph. Thus they will be friendlier towards the Nymph, no matter their status. This effect is stronger with Radiating Charm.Cost: none, Duration: Permanent
…
..
.
So basically all half my racials will make me stand out even more than usual and there is actually a skill that will help people feel desire for me. *Shiver*, I should not go to town, ever. At least it seems I’ll benefit from doing herbalism and maybe mining. Sadly skinning doesn’t exactly sound like nature’s safe-keeper like.
All in all I should find myself a cloak or I’ll be constantly running away from animals of all kinds and races. I think?
“Oomph!”
I land flat on my butt on the snow and with an “Owwie” I look up at what I hit into.
A large uncle (there’s enough wrinkles on his face) with a shaven face and tied back black hair, wearing a large number of furs is toppling over me holding his stomach. Now I’m not too small (only being 1 metre 58. Pragmatically small and cute) but this uncle is almost double my height: Thus I bumped into his stomach.
The uncle rubbing his belly muttered slightly “Hard-headed foo-“ but stops upon gazing at me. With an audible gulp he extends a hand towards me
…
..
.
I take his hand, out of courtesy, and I believe that was the wrong choice; the uncle with a fearful look in his eyes loosens his grip until it’s light, like he’s trying to lift a child. It’s as if he’s scared he’d damage my skin.
Pretending not to notice his slowly reddening face (although I can feel the heat myself) I thank him quietly and then move past him quite quickly.
“Ah…ah wait! Where you headed off to?”
Well he is a villager so I HOPE he’s not some serial-killer or creepy person (Although I can feel his intense gaze upon my back).
“I’m just going to talk to some residents in those houses over there” pointing at my 3 designated houses.
“Oh that’s perfect I was headed there myself!” He seems quite excited which gives me a shiver.
I HOPE that I’ll be all right. I look up to the sky seeing if Lady Luck still has me on her naughty list.
No answer.
So I begin to walk down the street with the uncle to my left as he carries a basket of something.
Seems I bumped into him at the general goods store as I check and confirm the building with its signpost.
“Varg”
Huh?
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“My name”
Oh, got it. Varg, quite a masculine name.
“Kal”
…
..
.
I stop moving and look back where the uncle had stopped and is looking deeply at the sky.
“Um…Varg?”
“A boy” He changes his gaze from the sky to me looking completely confused…
I continue walking because it’d take too long to clear up the situation and anyways, if he thinks I’m a boy his gaze might lessen, maybe.
He takes that as a yes it seems and the gazes do thankfully lessen, but the conversation was killed from this point on.
We walked in a pretty awkward silence down the street.
There are a couple of people milling about but the streets are relatively empty. However this doesn’t make much of a difference to me as all the males on the street are gazing at me with scary eyes while I swear I saw a dark-elf woman lick her lips as she glanced at me between conversations with a Dwarven woman.
Quickening my pace some, I arrive at the first house but before I knocked on it Varg got in front and opened the door with a “Honey, I have returned”
Moving into the house behind him, I notice it is as pitiful as it looks outside (all the houses are 1 story and look very shabby on the outside, all made from wood and looks like they haven’t been refurbished for years). Inside there is a fireplace embedded in the wall with a cooking pot over it. There is also a table and 4 chairs dominating the middle of the room while barrels and chests with furs and weapons sticking out line the borders of the room. There is however a separate room which I believe to be their bedroom.
Coming from the bedroom is a slender human woman wrapped in white wolf furs. Her physique is slender but toned muscle is apparent in her legs and arms. The furs don’t cover her whole body but is wrapped around her chest and thighs revealing much to the eye while keeping the most important parts hidden.
I would definitely give her a high 8 on the scales of man even though her face sports some wrinkles it makes her face seem mature and wise. Her black hair is loose and drops over her shoulder and with a yawn she walks over to Varg.
Hearing some…sounds(?) in front of me, I peek out from behind Varg and the woman jumps back in shock looking at me with curious eyes for a record second before barging past Varg (how harsh indeed, her own husband pushed out of the way for a stranger) and then hugs me tightly with a squeal.
“So Cuuuuute!!!”
She keeps me in a crushing bear-hug as she twists around (taking me with her).
“Can, we keep him?” Wait a second here
Varg just nodded. WAIT A SECOND HERE
With a squeal of delight she lets me breathe once more and dashes over to a chest of furs and with a flourish, sets out a fur bed from a mesh of different furs in one corner of the room.
“You’ll be staying with us for a while, you must! It’s been so long since we’ve had such a cute child in our house. Wait. What is your name?”
“K-kal” I don’t want to go along with this…but it doesn’t look like I have any choice in the matter…
“Eeeeeek you’re so cuuuute” She once again bear hugs me before I quite understand the situation.
She squeezes the life out of me and whispers to me “Kal, quite a manly name. I’m Cindy”
Umm thanks?? But I’m not sure what to do in this type of situation!?
She releases me once more but grabs my hand and drags me to the table where she sits me down and begins filling a wooden bowl in-front of me with some soup(?)
Serving Varg as he quietly sits down, she plops on her own seat, watching me with her big brown eyes while holding her face with her hands
I blow on the hot soup for a few seconds and then taste the meal (My satiety had dropped a bit from running so might as well take the free meal). It was a mix of a meaty taste with a peculiar herb-like after-taste. But nonetheless, delicious.
“Mmm delicious” I gasp as this soup is actually pretty damn good (also canteen food at my school sucks).
“Mmm yes it(you) is (are)” the two reply in unison
…
..
.
I clean out my ears because I swear I heard something but ah, nevermind must be my imagination.
I continue to eat my food with various “Kyaaa” and “Ahhh” commentary from Cindy as she watches me eat and smile at the deliciousness of the meal.
After a short while my satiety reaches full again but I diligently finish my meal and thank Cindy for it. She just told me it was her pleasure.
A good 40 minutes had passed since we had split up and I haven’t really checked out even 1 house yet.
“So Cindy, Varg. Is there anything you need help with?”
They both raise their eyebrows. “Oh Kal, you cutie. You don’t need to do anything for the bed and meal, it’s on the house.”
“Uh, uh tha…thanks… But I’m an adventurer and am looking for some work to do”
“An adventurer? Ah you must be a wanderer then.
Wanderer? Oh right my class tree.
“Why yes, yes I am”
Wait a second…how do the Ai know about wanderers? Ooh I smell advanced Ai here!
Cindy starts to clean the dishes while Varg looks at me with curious eyes.
“Level?”
…Did an Npc just ask my level? Well I shouldn’t find that strange since I didn’t really notice their Npc’ness at all. They’re exactly like a human being, quite scary indeed…but still, did not expect that in the least.
“I’m level…one” It’s not a proud level to be but I must start somewhere.
Cindy drops but then quickly catches a bowl while Varg furrows his brow in concern.
“Not enough”
“Oh Kal, what are you doing here? This isn’t any place for a level one such as yourself.” Cindy rushes to me and cups my face with her hands (wah, quite soft!)
I did notice our starting monsters were around level 8 but it was only over the limit since there were only 3 of us. If there had been about 100 players spawning there we should have been able to fight them with only a couple of dozen casualties.
“What’s wrong Cindy, Varg. Is this place too hard for me?”
“Hard? Kal its close to suicide what you’re doing here, trying to train here at level 1. Especially by yourself”
“Ah I’m not by myself. I have two friends who are with me…both level one too”
The ray of hope that appeared in her eyes when I mentioned my companions left when I mentioned their levels. Varg meanwhile is still furrowing his brows deeply in thought.
“Accomplish what?”
Varg really doesn’t mince words does he? But neither do I. Standing up I puff out my chest and raise a fist to the air
“I WANT TO BECOME A TRUE NORD”
…
..
.
“Eh?” Cindy cocks her head slightly while Varg begins a staring contest with me, his eyes boring into mine as if searching my soul.
I stand still fiercely gazing into his eyes pouring my resolution through them and after a few minutes Varg closes his eyes and unfurrows his brow(While I wipe off the sweat off my eyes, from forcing them to stay unblinking, I really hate staring contests). He stands up and moves next to me with one huge step landing his arm on my right shoulder.
“Train as warrior?”
“Yes” I guess so?
With that he nods his head
“Six wolf teeth”
QUEST:Path Of The Warrior IVarg has felt your resolve in becoming a Warrior of the North and thus has given you your first taks in becoming a true warrior; proving your resolve with action. He asks you to bring back 6 wolf teethRewards:
Unlock Path Of The Warrior II
Ooh a quest. And a chain one at that! I am EXCITED!! All except for the fact that I need to get 6 wolf teeth and the wolves are averaging level 8. That’s a pretty insane level difference. Also this will be a lot harder when following my ideals. Damn, I hope the others found an easier quest.
I nod to Varg and then look at Cindy with puppy eyes.
“Cindy can my friends stay here too, for I don’t want to get split up from them”
Apparently my eyes are super effective as I get crushed by her surprisingly strong hug. She twirls me around saying “Of course you can bring them”!
Gasping for breath, I am finally released and gulping air, I thank them both before leaving the house.
Stepping back onto the street, I immediately feel a mountain of gazes turn my way. It seems the rest of the town has woken up now. It seems like we arrived at dawn in-game so only a few people were up. But now the streets are properly filled with a good 20 people, jeez maybe the whole town; who are milling about talking to each-other or heading out of town weapons at their backs.
The town itself has a diverse number of races but all the men and some of the women look like walking packs of muscles. Guess this is a so called warrior town.
Seeing as though I only have 15 minutes left, I quickly hop to the next house. Knocking on the door I hear a “come in” and I walk inside. The house is almost identical in the interior with only a few personal changes such as there are two proper fur mattresses in the corners while there is no table and chair in the middle, only a white bear pelt in the center.
On top of that pelt is a stout Dwarven woman with blond pigtails scrubbing the hair of a small child (who is in a wash-basin) with a pair of blue scaly wings protruding from his back. He seems unhappy about being washed and is trying his best to escape. However a second helper, A young girl wearing a one-piece fur dress with blue-scaled arms and a tail swishing from side to side, is holding him down.
The Dwarven woman looks up at me with a confused expression
“You’re that girl, what are you doing here?”
“Ah, it’s just that I’m an adventurer and I was wondering if you needed any help”
She raises an eyebrow at me, seems like I do this a bit too business-like
“Well it’s odd for someone to just walk into someone house asking for a job” She hints with more than a note of displeasure.
“Oh it’s just that Varg has asked me to gather a few wolf teeth for training and since right now wolves are a bit difficult for me I was wondering if you had something I could do to level my-self up a bit beforehand.”
Upon the mention of Varg giving me ‘training’ her face and attitude took a 180 turn and she smiled brightly at me (wow know thy neighbors never seemed so useful till now).
“Ah Varg’s new recruit? Well hmm I myself don’t have anything to do but if you ask my husband Jearth then he might have some work. He’s the village blacksmith if you were wondering. I’m Rodna Rollhous and these are Thandor and Shelly” She points at her two children which oddly enough both bow politely (even the kid who on the verge of tears from being cleaned, how polite).
Thanking her I start to leave the house-
“Sorry, but I had thought you were a girl at first but I guess looks can be deceiving, sorry about that”
Well I didn’t do anything to show that I’m a guy quite obviously, even though I am a girl right now. Maybe it’s because of Varg; he only trains guys? That makes some sense?
Well at least I know I’ll get mistaken as a guy by the whole town eventually if rumors spread. That’ll keep me safe from the men in town at least, I hope.
Anyways I’m running out of time here so I walk back outside and head into the last house nearest to the north exit of the town (there’s the south and the north exit in the village. It’s a very very small place.
Inside is well, not what you’d expect from a shabby looking exterior: The walls are completely black, as if charred and there is a large table in the middle filled with all sorts of alchemical devices and equipments. I can see about 3 things bubbling and fizzing slightly as they get mixed in different methods by some strange contraptions. A large collection of potted plants hang off the right wall of the building over the embedded fireplace. There are books littering the floor even though there are a small line of bookcases to the left, which are devoid of books. Inside this strange place is the Dark-elf woman I saw earlier.
She has straight red hair let loose just passed her shoulder and she wears furs like the rest of the town, but her furs are black and looks like they’ve experienced quite a few spills of dangerous liquids. The woman looks at me in curiosity before licking her lips she says “Hello there, do you need help with something, do you need me to cure any ailments?”
For some reason-nah can’t be.
“Wh-why no, actually I am here to help you. You see I need to level up some so if you have a task for me to complete I would appreciate it”
“mmm, I do have a few things I need help with” She puts down a vial with red liquid she was stirring and moves closer to me with a graceful step stopping her face a few inches from mine.
*gulp*
I do get a good view of her fully black eyes as well as some intricate red tattoos lining her face and neck. Although I didn’t get a chance at a full body evaluation as her eyes dig into mine with a strange expression.
“Well you see, Thalia here needs help gathering a few herbs” she holds my left cheek with her soft grey-skinned hand “and as much as I love plucking beautiful flowers, I simply don’t have the time.” She lets her hand drop from my face with a mischievous(?) grin and returns to her work-table.
“So if you gather 20 Snowberries as well as 20 Frost-grass I’ll give you a…reward” The way she said reward while biting her finger was quite…terrifying because I just have this strange feeling that I’m being…hunted?
QUEST:Gather herbs for ThaliaThalia, the village alchemist requires a batch of 20 Snowberries and 20 Frost grass so that she may make some potions, what for she didn't sayRewards:
4 free minor healing potions
Thalia's 'reward'
...
..
.
Must’ve just been my imagination.
Quickly out the door I accept the quest and shut the door to her house stopping some odd gazes upon my lower back. I feel truly sorry for Missy now that I’m slowly learning what it’s like to feel someone’s gaze upon your body.
Shivering for some reason, but not due to the cold(?), I return back to our meeting spot to find Husky standing there with a mischievous grin on his face while Jöt looks mildly sad for some reason.
Both seeing me from a mile away, almost literally, because of 90% of the villagers gazes were focused upon me, they wave a greeting to me. Thankfully I arrived to the others before one of the more hungry-looking gazes advanced. I send them both friend requests and party invites.
Accepting them both I see their names and bars appear under my Health and rage bar.
“So where do we start?” We all say unanimously.