After the rain died down over the remains of my old home, I was already long gone. I took a brown cloak from someone I killed and used it to make myself incognito. Although it wasn’t the best at its job, it worked. It concealed my ears and my tail for the most part. If I played it safe, I could pass as a human.
I’m just walking through the forest at this point. Utilizing the knowledge given to me by Fenrir, I should be heading towards a big town. She said it’s one of the more not-well-known ones in the adventuring department but was very well known for its slavery. Honestly, I hate the fact that I’m going here but I don’t really have a choice since the other one is too far on foot. I may have [Immortality] and stuff but I want to make my trips to and from one place to the next as quickly as possible.
During my stay with my family, I of course had to be taught some common sense about things. The average person has around 50 in every stat, including MP, and a 500 in HP. Depending on how that person trains or how blessed that person is, they get increases to their stats. Weightlifting increases Strength (STR), sprinting increases Dexterity (DEX), reacting type things increases Agility (AGI), puzzles and reading increases Intelligence (INT), overcoming mental obstacles increases Spirit (SPR), and overcoming physical obstacles increases Vitality (VIT). HP is linked to Vitality and MP is linked to Intelligence. Stats can also increase randomly and I would bet an arm and a leg that there’s some hidden or unique skill somewhere that allows you to steal stats from others, whether through looks or kills.
Skills are actually a bit weirder to pinpoint on definition. There are some common skills people can get straight from birth or a bit of work but some are extremely difficult to get. There are some rarer skills that can be earned from overcoming ‘unique obstacles’ or completing certain dungeons- yes, there are dungeons in this world- and the rarest and most powerful are earned from the most extraordinary of feats. The first two types are documented quite commonly but, since almost no one has the last type, there is almost nothing known about them. Thank goodness I have [Camouflage] to hide everything I’ve got up my sleeves.
Magic is another thing entirely. It’s… finicky. Malleable and unique. Depending on your level with magic (i.e. [Dark I] is weaker than [Dark III]), you can change the fundamentals of each spell you know. People can create their own based off of a template sort of ‘included’ with the magic or from a book that details the spell. Of course, the latter is more trustworthy than the former because all spells that were written down have been made by powerful wizards and mages that have perfected their craft. Luckily, I don’t care about that and have a skill that literally skips the whole template thing and lets me make any spell I want with none of the potential consequences. As demonstrated by my
Finally, the one thing that I wanted out of this world and seen in so many RPGs, is the levelling system. In this world, levels are more of a ‘hidden stat’ than anything else. Training shows progress and that’s how you normally get increased stats. But sometimes you just get bonus stats out of nowhere or for the wrong reason. Who knows, maybe there’s a skill that lets you see your ‘level.’
Now that I’m done with the rambling, I’ve reached a clearing. In my brown cloak, I feel like I stand out as a suspicious individual. And honestly, after technically committing a small-scale genocide, I fit the bill. But, more importantly, I walked to what appeared to be an edge of the clearing. It was more of a plateau than a clearing. And below the plateau, leading up here, is a staircase made of stone designed to bring people in from the bottom. There it was, just as Fenrir said. The Kingdom of Nilgraf.
...
I hate it already.
Even at just a glance you can already tell that the whole ‘royalty’ part represents more than a fifth of the… well, everything! The castle was big- and I mean big! Not like, skyscraper big, but still pretty damn big. The more ‘peasantry’ part of the kingdom does not at all look like royalty. With the same glance at the castle, you can easily tell the rest of it is a little ragged. Still has a lot of hustle and bustle from the ant-sized people being perceived by me up here.
“It’s been a long time since I last saw business happen in that place,” Fenrir says peeking out from behind my head. “Last time I was here it was all bark and no bite. Now it actually looks like it can put up a fight.” She chuckles to herself. I imagine because she unintentionally rhymed.
“How long ago would that be?” I replied. I’ve always wanted to learn more about Fenrir, seeing as the only things I do know about her is that she’s got godlike power, a curious personality, a vendetta against her sealer, and she’s a spirit now. I still know next to nothing about her past.
Fenrir rolls her eyes at me. “Oh, I dunno… maybe fifty years? Or maybe five hundred years, it’s all a blur when you’re my age.”
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With that, all I do is sigh. Pressing her further isn’t very nice. I’ve also been raised back when in my old world to never ask the age of a woman. Surprisingly, it still holds true in this one. “Suit yourself. Let’s see what this kingdom has to offer.” And with that, I begin my trek down the stairs and towards the kingdom.
Of course, the kingdom was still relatively far. About maybe ten miles or so. At this point, I couldn’t move as fast as I did in the forest because now I have to be wary of prying eyes now that I’m getting close to civilization again.
During the walk, I know that the guards are going to get suspicious of a brown-robed nobody who has never showed up to the kingdom before now, has no identification, no money, not even a bag, and stats that would probably make even the most powerful of men seem insignificant. So I had to come up with either an excuse or a plan. And frankly, I want a well-thought out plan. Let’s begin.
[Creation] has been activated. Creating skill [True Disguisal].
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Leaning back against the ‘wall’ of the kingdom, if you can even call it that, I groan out a large sigh while putting my spear on the ground. “Why can’t something interesting happen while we’re on this damn job?” I said in my young but still grizzled voice.
“Relax, Rook. Our shift ends in about half an hour and then we can call this a day,” said my friend; my comrade; my best man. He holds his own spear with confidence as he stands tall and proud.
“Well I don’t want the shift to end, Barry! I want something cool to happen! I want more than just ‘sit back, relax, and stare into the forest,’ y’know?”
Barry could only sigh. “Quit pushing it. I feel like just you saying that is enough to tempt fate and send, I dunno, a dragon after this place or something.”
And, speak of the devil, we heard a twig snap. Quickly, I bent down and raised my spear into position. Barry, fast as he is, already has it in position. “Who goes there? Are you cool?” I shout towards the front and into the forest where we heard the snap.
What I was expecting was some sort of growl or roar. But what I wasn’t expecting, and what I got, was a shady figure draped in a brown cloak from head to toe. I can’t even see their face. They have their hands up, waving them slowly, to show that they have no weapon. “Wait! Relax! I’m unarmed! I’m… I’m just lost.” The voice that came from the figure is noticeably feminine.
Barry tilts his head in confusion but quickly shakes himself more awake as he re-embellishes his spear with a more pronounced display. “State your name and your business before we begin attacking.”
The figure stammers on her words but swiftly gets out her words. “M-my name’s Penny. Right now I don’t even know w-where I am and was hoping if I could stay here for a bit and get my bearings.”
Barry and I looked at each other for a second. “From the forest? Doesn’t sound very believable, ‘Penny,’” I said to the figure.
“I’m telling you, I was in a town or village or… some place with civilization and society and then I suddenly just wound up out here in the forest. I haven’t eaten anything in a day and don’t have any money or weapons or anything.” She sounds like she’s about to cry and I’m starting to feel a little sad, honestly. She bends down onto the ground, knees and hands, into a position that I’ve never seen before. “Please… I want to live…”
Barry and I look at each other once more and we sigh at the same time. Barry speaks up. “Fine, we’ll grant you a temporary identification. If you want to get a more permanent one, I’d suggest taking a look at the adventurer’s guild.”
She looked happy, even though I couldn’t see her face. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you!”
Barry puts up a finger. “But! On one condition.”
“Of course! What is it?” she says.
“We need to see your face for the identification procedures.”
I can see quite clearly that she doesn’t seem too keen on that. “O-okay… If that’s what is required…” She goes to take off her hood. As she unveils it, my cheeks go red as I see what has to be the most beautiful face I have ever seen. Deep purple eyes. A shining, pretty face. Wonderfully dark violet hair without any imperfections. It was like a goddess descended onto this world and graced me with her presence. It took every ounce of my willpower not to-
Barry coughs into his hand. Of course he isn’t swayed in the slightest. “You may proceed. Follow me and I will get your identification ready.” Barry, no! Why do you gotta take Penny away from me?!
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Thank goodness my new [True Disguisal] worked. I don’t know how they’d take me if I had the ears of beastkin. Lo and behold, these guys had no idea. Still can't believe I had to do that dogeza thing. Temporary identification procedures went swimmingly. All I needed to do was put my hands on a ball to see if I had anything on my criminal record (of which I technically had none because nothing was ever reported yet) and put my hands on another ball to show them my name and stats. They said that I had the makings of a great adventurer as long as I had the will to put in the effort.
From there, I was let into the kingdom. After asking for some directions from actually decent people I thought I’d never meet, I finally found my way to my new home: The Adventurer’s Guild.
With a deep breath in and out and a smile on my face, I opened the double doors inside met with… interesting results.
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[True Disguisal] - A Skill created by Penumbra Marquez, [True Disguisal] is a more powerful offshoot of [Disguise]. It is undetectable my magic and skills and, when used, the user is, for all intents and purposes, that person that they became. This skill can only be used to create humanoid identities and not monstrous ones.