Blinking his eyes open, Jade yawned drowsily, staring at the ceiling with a peaceful expression. He’d never felt more comfortable and well rested before in his life, though he waited for the normal aches and pains to wake him up more fully. He’d been told he’d start having them when he hit forty, but they’d apparently started earlier for him. The pains never came, however, as he stared at the brickwork ceiling, stifling another yawn as-
Brickwork? He wondered to himself, abruptly getting up with a clank and looking at the unfamiliar dark wood walls. Clank? He glanced down at himself in shock, the full plate armor gleaming in the blue light of a nearby candle. He’d only ever seen armor like that at the one convention he’d gone to a year back, and even then none of the armor sets looked as polished as the one he wore. He could only compare it to what a stereotypical medieval armor set would look like, having no other references to fall back on. The main metal of the armor looked to be a dark brown, though he had to guess somewhat due to the contrast of the blue light from the candle and the orange glow from cracks mottled through the armor. He’d expected to feel some heat from it as the orange slow shifted, as though parts of the armor were still molten. But he felt no such thing, only his body heat soaking into the soft lining of the armor.
What is going on? He wondered to himself, looking around again at the room and seeing no other features than a chair and table, which the aforementioned candle sat on. The door to the room was made from the same type of wood as the walls, Jade thinking it unoriginal for a moment before he got up fully out of the bed. Still no aches. He couldn’t tell if the was relieved by this fact, mostly finding himself growing more and more anxious. Did I get kidnapped? Is the door going to be locked? He grabbed the wooden doorknob and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned, swinging the door out and…
Snow. It was drifting down from the sky at a leisurely pace, though it did not coat the cobblestones like he expected. Wasn’t it summer the last time I checked…? Other houses made of the same wood lined the street beside him, while in front was a rather large park. Benches and trees were scattered across the area without snow covering them, just like the street, though the grass acted like it normally did with a thin layer of snow covering it. On the other side of the park were what looked like shops and other commercial buildings, though these buildings were made from the same strange, pure white brick that made up the ceiling of the room behind him. You would almost think, especially with the lamps stationed alongside the roads, that it was a modern town. If not for the way the people looked.
Most were human from what Jade could tell, though very few had skin colors he was used to. Some were almost pitch black, a stark contrast against the snowfall, while others were shades of blue, yellow, even pink. He could hardly believe his eyes on that last one, bumping his hand into the helmet of his suit in an attempt to rub his eyes. In between the oddly colored humans were a smattering of other races, including elves, orcs, wolfkin, and even one dwarf he saw racing down the street and shouting something he couldn’t hear over the bustle of people. Everyone also wore more medieval garb as well, no jeans in sight though he did see one person wearing what looked like a hoodie. Otherwise people just wore handmade clothes or what looked to be leather armor, some people even wearing metal armor as well.
Maybe I should go back inside, he thought, turning around to find the door he’d come through completely gone and replaced with a solid wood wall. He could be forgiven for breathing heavily at that, Jade starting to wonder if having a mental breakdown would be good at this juncture.
“Hey… you okay, adventurer?” a voice asked, Jade turning around slowly to look at the rather tall man standing in front of him. Er… orc I guess, he thought as he spied the overbite and green skin he associated with the fictional race. Also associated with orcs that fit well were the massive muscles almost tearing apart the leather armor he wore, Jade thinking the guy must have gotten the wrong size or something.
He started as he realized he’d just been staring, the helmet disguising any of his facial expressions, which caused the orc’s brow to wrinkle in concern. “I’m fine,” he said, surprised at how even and calm his voice was. He didn’t say more, however, noticing the orc give him a once over as well.
“Most people don’t get caught staring at a wall,” the orc commented, raising an eyebrow.
“Just new in town and admiring the craftsmanship.”
“Well if you’re new in town, I’m heading to the adventurer’s guild. You want to tag along?” The orc gave him a kind smile at that, warming Jade’s insides as he only nodded.
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“Name’s Bert,” the orc stated a couple of paces down the road, Jade keeping his head straight and trying not to be caught looking around at all the new faces he saw. He turned his helmet towards Bert, shifting his eyes to the woman behind him who… are those horns growing out of her head?
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“Jade.”
“Well welcome to Candor Jade,” Bert smiled, showing off his tusks once more. “Where you travel from?”
“Oh well… mostly been wandering. Haven’t found a place to settle down.” Bert nodded as Jade said that, Jade nervously looking around with his eyes again, glad his face was hidden. It’s just a dream. No one as boring as me would get whisked off to another world. He almost looked down at his armor before catching himself. I’m really hoping I wake up soon.
“Ha!” Bert’s exclamation startles Jade, his armor clanking at the sudden movement. “Opposite of me then. Was born and raised here and never left. Got a good job chopping down monsters and couldn’t have asked for more.” Jade’s eyes widened at the word monsters, having to force himself to keep walking forward with the orc.
“How thick is the local monster population here?”
“Eh, you see two, maybe three jobs popping up per day. We have around fifteen adventurers on staff at the moment, though we lost one last week.” Jade nodded at that, noticing the ‘small’ town was actually not as small as he thought it was as they walked the blocks. So a low monster density area then… “So where did you get the armor from if I might ask?” Bert asked, spiking Jade’s anxiety.
“I’d rather not say…” he muttered out, the orc taking that in stride with a nod. With that, the conversation died, leaving Jade to people watch in peace and Bert to wave at the people walking past. After the first ‘clink’ of his metal finger tapping his armored leg, he forcefully pulled back his habit of fidgeting, not wanting to draw the orc’s attention more.
I wonder if I’ll see any magic… he wondered, thinking about his glowing armor and nodding his head. Probably. If only I had a menu or something so I could see what kind of magic this wor- His thoughts were cut off as a glowing window popped out in front of him, just like you see in games, Jade only missing a single step before moving forward again as if nothing happened. The screen moved along with him as he examined it, though annoyingly, it blocked a good chunk of his view.
Rather than the RPG interface he was expecting, it only consisted of what looked to be an inventory, showing six rows of boxes with ten columns going across in the main part. Just the top two rows were filled in, showing a variety of items he started recognizing as he looked over the pixelated representations. Off to the side he saw another two columns showing off the armor he currently wore, as well as a few items he’d had ‘equipped’, though none showed on his person as they were all shown with a closed eye icon in the corner.
This is just like the inventory for Errant, he thought, thinking back to the block-building 2D RPG he loved playing. Now that I think about it, aren’t I wearing the meteor armor? As he focused on the armor, a descriptive box popped up next to each piece of armor, showing that each increased his magic damage and decreased his magic consumption. They even had a set bonus, stating that the ‘Space Wand’ could be used with no cost to the user. Same as in Errant.
“And here we are!” Bert startled him again with the shout, Jade looking up at the building they’d both stopped in front of without him noticing. “Nothing special around here, but has the finest beer in all of Candor.” Made of more of the white bricks he saw before, Snow Bricks, he thought to himself, the building really did look like the other shops around them, though it was four stories tall rather than the other buildings which were all two with the rare three stories. It also had no doors, only a large opening to separate the outside from the inside.
“I don’t drink,” Jade commented, dismissing his inventory to look at later. “Thank you for showing me here Bert. Talk to you later?” The orc gave another toothy smile before heading towards the nearby bar, the bartender swiftly taking his order. Now to sit and find out what items I have on me, Jade thought, feeling a bit of excitement override his anxiety for a moment.
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Meteorite Armor Item Stats:
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Meteorite Helmet
Body Slot: Helmet
Defense: 6
+6% Increased Magic Damage
-3% Mana Use
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Meteorite Chestplate
Body Slot: Chest
Defense: 7
+6% Increased Magic Damage
-3% Mana Use
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Meteorite Leggings
Body Slot: Pants
Defense: 6
+9% Increased Magic Damage
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Set Bonus: The cost of the Space Wand is reduced to 0 Mana.