Jake sighed as he wiped the blade off on the thick fur of the giant rat, looking at the object intently as he cleaned it. It was the only thing he had that was close to a weapon and tool at the moment, so he wanted to make sure it was in top condition at all times. He checked the blade’s sharpness and inspected it for any chips, satisfied to find that it was still good in both categories. A screen popped up in his vision as he lowered the blade, making him grunt in annoyance.
Learned Skill: [Inspect]
“There must be a way to turn these things off,” he sighed, looking back at the knife in his hand, the same type of screen that had appeared above the rat now hovering above the knife.
Survival Knife
A simple knife with a flat edge for cutting and a serrated edge for sawing.
Quality: Common
“Well, that’s useful,” Jake said sarcastically, finally looking at the corpse of the rat still lying in the middle of the clearing, “Now, what to do with you?”
The answer was somewhat obvious to Jake. He was in an unknown area with minimal tools and means to survive, and the rat corpse represented both food and materials. Gripping his knife, he rolled the corpse onto its back and set about skinning it. He had barely touched the hide with the knife when a new screen appeared in his vision.
Learn Skill: [Skinning]
Cost: 1 Fate Point
Y/N?
“No,” he growled in annoyance, he knew how to skin and dress a carcass, he didn’t need a Skill to show him how.
Sitting down beside the body, he drew his knife across the underside of the rat, blinking in surprise at the shallow cut he made. Obviously, the hide was a lot tougher than he had expected, considering how hard it had been to wound the rat while it was alive. Shrugging, he just dragged the blade over the cut again, having to make a third pass to finally get through the thick hide. Jake quickly repeated the process along the legs, building up a small sweat as he cut the rat’s tail off. Finally, he was done, yanking the hide off with practiced tugs, leaving the bloody meat of the muscle underneath exposed to the air, getting another notification.
Leaned Skill: [Skinning]
“Forgot to drain the body first,” he sighed as he watched the blood pool under the corpse, simply laying the hide out on the grass to dry as he waited for the red liquid to finish soaking into the ground.
Once it was done, Jake approached the body, rolling it out of the sticky patch of grass and setting about carving it up. He dismissed the notification that popped into his vision, simply going about his work as the sun moved across the sky. After an hour he was finally done, looking at the three grisly piles around him, a small screen appearing above each as another notification appeared.
Pile of Giant Rat Meat
A pile of Giant Rat meat.
Decays in: 23 hours 58 minutes
Pile of Giant Rat Bones
A pile of various Giant Rat bones.
Decays in: 23 hours 58 minutes
Pile of Giant Rat Innards
A pile of various Giant Rat organs.
Decays in: 23 hours 58 minutes
Learned Skill: [Butchery]
Jake dismissed the screen, standing up and stretching out his back as he looked at the three piles again. He wasn’t sure, but he guessed that if he didn’t do anything with them or store them before the timer ran out, then they would probably disappear. Shaking his head, he opened his inventory, looking at the two empty spots, one for his knife, one for the dropped Survival Guide. He really didn’t have the space to keep all the items unless he could find another bag soon.
Looking over the rest of the items, he paused on one, selecting it as it appeared in his hand like all the other items. He quickly walked to the middle of the clearing, placing the fabric bundle down and unravelling it, a slight smile on his lips as he quickly set up the tent. A few minutes later he stepped back, admiring the simple triangle tent with pride, stepping up and patting it, a small inventory screen with only five spaces appearing in his vision as he touched it.
“Wait,” he said, looking between the tent and the three piles of rat parts, “The tent has an inventory?”
------
Andy sighed as he looked over the large fields of vegetables that bordered the southern side of the starter town where he’d spawned. At one point they had been full of wild rabbits, a person unable to take more than five steps before almost stepping on one. Now, however, the rabbits had been replaced with irate players, many arguing over the corpses of the poor bunnies, quickly breaking into duels or full-on fights.
The reason for this bunny genocide and in-fighting? A simple starter Quest to kill five rabbits and bring the old man that gave the quest the ears as proof. Of course, with this being the first day of the game, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of players in the starter town, meaning that all the rabbits were quickly killed or chased off. Strangely, the old man had simply thanked anyone who’d already started the quest, giving them a couple of copper coins as long as they had at least one set of ears. Then he’d simply said that maybe there’d be more rabbits tomorrow and returned to his house as if he’d never had the quest to begin with.
Of course, this had infuriated some players, who’d tried to intimidate him, but the guards had quickly descended on the culprits, dragging them off to the jail even as they shouted about broken NPCs. That was the general story around the whole of the starter town, any small beginner quests were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of players, being effectively solved. While some thought that this meant that the game was broken, immediately logging off to go complain on the forums, Andy had another opinion.
Grande New World was an RAS, or Reality Analogous System, style of game. This meant that it tried to mimic the real world as closely as possible while still having certain game elements. As far as Andy could tell, there wasn’t a constant stream of mobs being spawned for players to kill, because that sort of thing didn’t happen in real life, so the rabbits and other vermin around the town had simply run out. Of course, this meant that there was a severe lack of experience for the massive number of players, which in turn meant that everyone was extremely angry. It didn’t help that someone had already managed to grab the achievement for reaching level ten in the first few minutes of the game going live.
Andy shook his head as he recalled the reaction to the screen appearing in front of everyone around him, probably across the entire server. The angry screams could be heard from the other side of the town as numerous players simply logged off in frustration, leaving only the truly hardcore or those that didn’t care as much. And Andy, of course.
Checking his Message Window again, he let out another sigh, sending his third message to the account, just in case the recipient would finally answer. Closing the screen, he continued down the road leading away from town, walking towards the trees of the wood not far from the edge of the fields. He knew it wasn’t the smartest idea, the last few players that had gone into the woods having apparently respawned shortly after, looking harrowed and terrified, logging off soon after, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Andy needed to level up, and fast, and the only way to really do that was to fight.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Hey,” the shout pulled him out of his thoughts as he turned to see a short young girl with long blonde hair running towards him, “Hold on! I’m talking to you!”
“Yes?” he asked, as she finally caught up, panting heavily before glaring at him for a moment, “Can I help you?”
“You look like you’re trying to become a tank, right?” the girl asked, straightening her cream shirt, clearing her throat before pointing at Andy, “Then you can protect me from the wolves in the woods while I kill them with my fire spells!”
“Huh?” Andy blinked, looking down at the party invite now floating in front of him, “Wait, how do you know they’re wolves?”
“I read it on the forums,” the girl replied, crossing her arms as she stuck her nose in the air, “The people who went into the forest said they were killed by wolves, but that it was horrible because it hurt. I just think they weren’t taking the game seriously enough and failed to protect themselves properly. Neurotech did say that this game was going to be super realistic, after all.”
“Uh, yeah,” Andy nodded, “So why do you want me to party with you again?”
“Because,” the girl huffed, “I need someone to protect me while I blast the wolves with my fire magic!”
“Right,” Andy nodded, about to turn away when he paused, “You know what? Sure. What could go wrong? Apart from us dying gruesomely, of course.”
“That’s what you’re for,” the girl replied, holding out her hand as Andy accepted the party invitation, “Sophie Sticated.”
“Goldrun Strongarm,” Andy nodded as they shook hands.
------
Jake smiled as he placed the last stone around the edge of the small firepit, half following the instructions that showed up as ghostly images in front of him. The same thing had happened with the tent, but Jake had ignored them as he knew how to set one up, but they were slightly useful for this second structure. Getting to his feet, Jake looked around the clearing again, eyes watching the edges of the forest carefully. He'd tried to leave the clearing earlier but had been stopped by a notification that had warned him of going any further.
Not particularly perturbed, Jake had still turned around, choosing to instead finish setting up his camp and emptying as many spaces in his inventory as possible. Now he had eight empty slots, only carrying his Survival Knife and the coil of rope, the rest of the items either set up in his camp, stored in his tent, or simply left on the floor. While he was nervous about leaving the items on the floor, he had discovered that all he had to do was put them in his bag then drop them again to refresh their decay timer.
Nodding to himself, Jake made his way back over to the barrier that surrounded the clearing, reaching out to touch it.
Warning!
You are leaving a Safe Zone.
You are entering The Wilds.
Stepping forwards, Jake was immediately assaulted with several screens at once.
You have entered The Wilds.
The Wilds are a lawless land, where both beast and man can pose equal threat.
Will you be able to survive? Or will you be consumed by the danger?
Achievement: Pioneer
You are the first Traveller to enter The Wilds.
Rewards:
Title: [Pioneer]
1 Fate Point
Learn Skill: [Night Vision]?
Cost: 1 Fate Point.
Y/N?
Jake just dismissed all three at once, shaking his head as he continued into the dark forest.
The ground was soft and marshy with leaf litter, just as likely to muffle your footsteps as alert a predator when you stepped on a hidden branch. A pervasive atmosphere of gloom hung in the air, making Jake shiver slightly as he carefully made his way deeper into the woods, keeping his eyes out for appropriate trees and falling branches. He sighed as another notification to learn a Skill appeared in front of him, the man dismissing it without even reading it.
He’d already decided to try learning Skills in a more natural way instead of simply buying them with Fate Points, as the screen in the character creator had said that they were rare. As such, he quickly dismissed the notifications to learn a Skill called [Herbalism], appearing after he had picked a mushroom growing at the base of a tree. Instead, he simply walked through the forest, casually filling the empty slots of his bag with various mushrooms, as well as a few feathers and some dried sap that he found, earning him the offer of a Skill called [Search], which he quickly dismissed.
It didn’t take long for him to actually gain a new Skill as he went, having been walking for only about thirty minutes when a notification appeared.
Learned Skill: [Sharp Eyes]
Jake blinked as the area around him brightened slightly, just barely enough for him to notice. Looking around in confusion, he realised that a small patch of the forest around him, about a one metre diameter, seemed clearer to his sight. Experimentally, he walked up to a tree, looking at it carefully, the bark suddenly coming into sharper relief. Shaking his head at the strange sensation, he stepped back, figuring that the effect had something to do with his new Skill. He wondered for a moment if he should try to look at them to get a better idea of what they actually did, but quickly shelved that idea. He would wait until he was back in the Safe Zone and his Camp, where it was actually safe.
As if to accentuate his point, a loud howl echoed through the forest, sending a chill down Jake’s spine as he looked around quickly. The sound had been disturbingly close, Jake hoping that whatever had made it hadn’t caught his scent. Nervously, Jake called up his inventory, looking at the items he’d collected. Between the five types of mushrooms, loose feathers, tree sap and the rope and his Survival Knife, Jake only had one slot left. A slot he had hoped to fill by now but hadn’t found anything suitable.
Letting out a sigh, he decided it was probably best to start heading back to the Safe Zone for now, eyes going wide as he rounded a large tree and spotted something in the gloom. Hurrying over, Jake grinned at the sapling, its silvery bark seeming to reflect light even in the gloom of the forest. It was about three meters tall, and four or five centimetres thick at the base, staying that thickness up most of its length, almost perfect for what Jake wanted.
Pulling out his Survival Knife, Jake quickly set about sawing through the surprisingly hard wood with the serrated edge, the sound echoing between the trees unnaturally. Swallowing nervously, Jake redoubled his efforts as sweat started to build on his forehead. Another howl sounded through the forest, this time closer, making Jake work even faster as he managed to get about halfway through the sapling’s trunk, a prompt asking if he wanted to learn the [Woodcutting] Skill. He dismissed the screen almost as soon as it appeared, his arm starting to get tired as he continued his frantic work.
Jake sighed in relief as he managed to cut through the last of the sapling, dismissing the notification that he’d learned the [Gathering] Skill as he placed his prize in his inventory. He stepped back for a moment, looking down at the small stump he had left behind, before bowing his head and giving it a silent thanks. His solemn actions were interrupted almost immediately as the sound of a twig snapping, followed by a low growl.
Spinning around, Jake stared into the gloom, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched the four wolves emerge from the shadows, as though they had coalesced from the darkness itself. They had similar fur to the Giant Shadow Rat he’d killed before, looking more like strands of obsidian than hair, and were much larger than he previous foe. Each was at least four feet tall, with the largest easily standing at the height of Jake’s shoulder. Yellow eyes watched him hungrily as he swallowed, their pupils swirling with darkness as the largest wolf stepped forwards again, curling its lips back to reveal a mouth full of pointed teeth.
“Easy now. I’m not here to hurt you,” Jake said softly as he held out his hands, seeming to confuse the wolves for a second as they looked at him for a moment, Jake taking the opportunity to use [Observe] on them.
Shadow Wolf
Beast
Level: ??
Corrupted
Jake blinked as he looked at the screen in confusion. What did “corrupted” mean? And why could he see it on the screen? His questions were cut off as the lead wolf took another step forwards, growling at him again. Jake swallowed again, looking around for the other wolves, which were slowly surrounding him, stalking around to cut off any means of escape. He had maybe a few seconds before he would be completely surrounded and trapped.
Jake made his decision.
He leapt backwards, rolling along the ground just as one of the wolves jumped at him, barely avoiding the shockingly fast animal. A notification popped up in his vision, immediately getting dismissed as he scrambled to his feet, bolting into the woods in the direction of the Safe Zone. Behind him he heard a wolf howl, before it was joined by three others, the sounds sending sweat running down his back.
The hunt was on.