Oliver was in English class. That is to say he was in English. He had no idea where he was now. He had been waiting for a while and had enough time to start to get a little bored. He may have been neutral about most things, but being bored of doing nothing was pretty universal. Oliver looked around and noticed a speck of white in the distance. It was nearly impossible to miss, as it was a huge contrast against the almost aggressive darkness all around him. The light drew nearer and nearer to him until it couldn’t have been more than a meter away. The light burned Oliver’s eyes but he could do nothing to stop it. Finally, the giant mass of brilliant light rang out in a clear voice.

“Oliver, the gods need you.”

“What?” Oliver replied, perplexedly.

“The gods have been divided and at war for a while now. We need you to stop this.”

“Gee, just stop gods, that sounds so easy!”

“We know this sounds like no easy task, but we are willing to give you the power you need. For each choice you make, you will gain karma points which you can use to purchase upgrades. Your goal is to help either side in their war or topple both. You will start in a clearing in the middle ring of the planet. Here you will be able to choose initially which side to go to first. I recommend you find towns closer to the forest, as they handle people from the other side and who are neutral better.”

“Wait! Can I just have a coin?”

“Why?”

“I use it when I make decisions.”

“Oh, well I guess if you need it, but we have the ability to take it away, we need you to lose your neutrality and pick a side to be loyal to eventually.”

“Thanks.”

Oliver woke up in a meadow. He looked around and saw lush grass and trees he could guess were oak. They all appeared to be in peak greenness, so it was either spring or summer. Oliver noticed his clothes were replaced by rougher cloth pants and a tunic, with leather shoes. He felt around in his pockets and found a piece of wood with the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ carved on each side. He looked at it more intently and a screen appeared.

Magical Wooden CoinQualityUniqueUses/Durability5/5 UsesDescriptionA magical coin given to you by the gods. It can help you make 5 decisions, after that you will have to make decisions on your own. You can change the words on the sides by thinking it.

Oliver stared blankly at this menu of sorts. His first thought wasn’t that this item was identifiable by looking at it. His first thought was that he could only use this five times. He would have to make his own decisions after he used these up. Another message appeared in front of him.

Skill GainedIndentificationBasic Lv. 100.00%DescriptionA skill used to determine qualities of an item. Use by staring intently at an object. As your levels increase, you will be given new information about objects. Rank ups let you see qualities of other classes of things.

He looked up to the tree line surrounding the meadow. To his left and right there were breaks in the trees and he could make out a path of sorts on each side. He decided to test his coin right here and now. He looked at it until the menu popped up again and thought ‘left’ and ‘right’, and the coin changed both sides respectively. He flipped the coin and caught it in his hand. He turned it over and it read ‘left’.

Oliver got up and brushed himself off. He walked to the left side of the field and looked down the path. It looked well-worn and safe enough, so he started his journey to whatever resided on this side of the world. As he was walking, he thought about what that mass of white light had said. He was supposed to have powers that would help him change the world. He shrugged it off. Gaining skills like that was power enough he supposed. Time blurred until he saw a much welcome end of the tunnel. As he approached the tunnel, a person jumped out with a gun aimed at his head.

“State your business.” The man said, looking at Oliver dangerously.

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“Uh, I don’t know.” Oliver replied shakily.

“Are you one of those Pancians?”

“What? No.”

He lowered his gun and wiped his brow. Oliver finally got a good look at the man. He was taller than Oliver, with black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a large overcoat that hid most of him, but he had clothes similar to Oliver’s, but made of leather and had finer stitching. Oliver tried to get his Identification menu to pop up, but nothing happened.

“Are you just going to keep staring, or are you going to be on your way?”

“To be fair, I don’t have room to get past you.”

“I know, don’t come this way. I’m not accepting visitors.”

“But I need to get to a town.”

“Then find another way.”

“Why are you so defensive?”

“Because, this is my home, and I’m not letting anyone ruin it.”

“Can’t I just cut through this clearing?”

The man sighed. He stepped aside and Oliver walked into the meadow. There was a cabin with some tanning racks outside. There was a small farming patch but other than that, the clearing was empty. Trying not to make the man mad, he nearly ran through the clearing to the other side. He wished he had gotten more out of that, like learning how to tan or farm, but Oliver wasn’t about to argue with a man with a gun. A little bit later, Oliver’s legs felt like they were giving out and he finally reached a town. It was a quarter of a kilometer from the edge of the forest, so he hoped they would be friendlier. It was sunset, and Oliver didn’t want to seem like a thief or a rogue, so he slept on some grass a little bit aways from the path.

When Oliver woke up, it was dawn and people were moving about in the town. Oliver walked into town and received some dirty looks. Everyone seemed to dislike him just for walking out of the forest. How much did they hate those Pancians anyway? He approached what looked like a market stall selling food.

Oliver asked, “Why does everyone here seem to hate me?”

“Cause you’re a Pancian.”

“What’s a Pancian?”

“The people on the other side of the forest, we’re at war with them. So you aren’t one, huh? Who are you then?”

“Oliver.”

“Strange name. Anyway, since you aren’t one of those people, as soon as the word gets out you won’t get dirty looks from people anymore.”

“Do you have an inn or something here?”

“We’re standing right outside it.”

“Okay, thanks.” Oliver said and walked into the inn.

Inside people weren’t looking at Oliver like he was a menace anymore. He supposed it was because they didn’t see him come out of the forest. Oliver walked up to the barmaid at the counter and asked if there was any work. Oliver didn’t want to be broke forever, and he wanted to build up a reputation with these people.

“Well, we don’t have regular work, but if you want to hunt I can loan you a dagger and you can pay me back later.”

Oliver agreed and walked out into the forest, but this time went off the path. The area seemed void of all animals, but Oliver wasn’t going to give up. He held his dagger like he saw assassins in movies hold them. He spotted a fox and jumped towards it, lashing out with his dagger. He had hit the fox on its leg and it had fallen over. Oliver quickly sliced it throat and another notification appeared.

[tb1]00.00%[/td1]

Skill GainedDagger MasteryBasic Lv. 1DescriptionA skill used to injure things while wielding a dagger. As your levels increase, you will do more damage with daggers. Rank ups can let you dual wield and perform new moves

He brought the whole fox back into the inn. The barmaid took the limp fox and told Oliver he could keep the dagger. Oliver decided to ask if anything else needed to be done. The barmaid nodded and a window appeared.

QuestRat SlayerTrudy, the barmaid has asked you to kill all the rats in the cellar.RewardsIncreased closeness with the town of Felnec

50 copper

10 positive karma