On Earth, our planet, a structure called Gate has mysteriously created itself.
The Gate is a portal formed at the center of the Atlantic Sea, once you cross this portal, you will no longer find yourself in the world we all know, but a fantasy world full of magic, monsters and everything you might expect, and I want to explore every corner of that different world.
And that’s why I’m heading to this portal, across the Atlantic Sea, aboard a ferry, to experience an adventure, the one I’ve always dreamed of.
It’s about six in the morning when I hear the captain’s voice coming out of the boat’s megaphones:
"Pack your bags, we’re on our way to the Gate."
Getting up calmly, I redo my suitcase with everything I have scattered in what is a messy room and, after about ten minutes, I leave the room starting, like other people, to the bridge of the ferry where perhaps you already begin to glimpse the Gate.
I climb the last steps, and then emerge out into a large free space with many people already ready to come down from that long journey, and here is that looking behind me you can look at what I came for: the Gate; which with its grandeur of a hundred meters high from above descends almost like a fracture in space until it arrives in this small island formed together with the portal of a blue neither intense as the sea below it, nor clear as the blue of the sky above it, You wouldn’t think there was another world behind it, but once I got through, I’d be in Alis' town. The first city, created by humans on Earth, that has ever been built in that world that is conventionally called Newland for obvious reasons.
The city is not made of wood or stones stacked on top of each other, but is formed by solid concrete that forms huge palaces and thanks to the presence of players, so we are called in that world, the city can also have things like: electricity, obtained from the magic stones contained in the monsters, meat obtained by the same monsters and thanks to their protection you can also grow wheat and vegetables.
In practice a paradise for those who want a new life, since the workforce or researchers are in great demand.
The ferry makes a slight turn to approach the island laterally allowing an easier descent, the anchor drops. Immediately afterwards the crew prepared the various points of descent for the passengers who were ready after a few minutes. Coming down from one of the various points I find myself at the door of all my dreams, the one that would allow me to fulfill them all. From living a new life to dreaming of being the strongest sorcerer and avenging my parents killed by someone in that world.
Many people are already walking through that door, I take a deep breath and take the last step that separates me from everything that was waiting for me.
### Error finding the spawn point ####
### You will be generated at a random point on the map ####
### We are very sorry for the inconvenience ###
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is nothing, absolutely nothing, the total darkness that covers my entire view. I feel cold and water falls on my face at times as if dripping, the floor is hard, rock, I understand that I am in a cave. My memories are very confused, I only remember things that happened on the ferry such as lessons on how to deal with monsters or on skills and classes. I don’t remember my name, nor where I live, not even my parents' names, not even their faces!
But I remember that in a lesson they showed us how it would work the state of the player in which it showed information like name, characteristics and the ability obtained as soon as you crossed the Gate
"Status". A bright blue screen appeared before me as I was described.
- Name: ######
Class: none
Titles: ####
Level: 1
PV: 45/45
Mana: 22/22
Features:
Strength: 11 Agility: 13
Constitution: 9 Intelligence: 14
Spirit: 23
Skill:#####: level # info:#
Discouraged, I get up and try to figure out what to do, but even before I could think of something, I heard a noise coming from my shoulders, it wasn’t the sound of the water, which I’ve been hearing since I arrived, but as if something slimy crawled somewhere in this cave and before I knew it, something fell on me and I was covered with a slimy and very sticky substance. I knew what it was, slime!
Slimes in themselves are not very dangerous, but for me, that doesn't have equipment, that doesn't know my abilities and that I cannot even see anything, this meeting could be the last of my life.
I only saw him for a moment and then I felt extra weight on mine, then a tearing pain covering me.
Slime began to emit acid that he used to digest prey, fortunately slime was not large enough to cover me up to the head, but only stopped up to the chest. Panic, that’s what I feel, I can’t think with this pain that covers most of my body, I started to shake violently without getting results. The more pain, the more time passed, the more intense it became, then, continuing to scream, I tried to tear off my slime rolling on the floor, but this also did not work.
As I tried to free myself from slime I stumbled into I don’t know what, probably a stalagmite, I fell, hit my head and fainted.
I opened my eyes and still saw nothing, the pain was finally gone, the slime was dead? From the feeling I feel I have fallen into a shallow pool of water, I remembered thanks to one of the various lessons that slime were diluted with water, dying. But now what I feel is just fear, I don’t know what to do, the only thing I can do now is open the status.
- Name: ######
Class: none
Titles: ####
Level: 1
PV: 45/45
Mana: 22/22
Features:
Strength: 11 Agility: 13
Constitution: 9 Intelligence: 14
Spirit: 23
Skill:##### level # info:#
Acid resistance: level 1 info-
Increases resistance to acids and corrosion in general.
Apparently, not only did I level up, but I also got a new ability and from what little I remember, getting a new ability is quite common. Just repeat or take action several times. After I got this new ability I was ecstatic, perhaps more than I should be, and I said my greatest wish, the reason I came to Newland:
"I will fulfill my dream of becoming the strongest magician of all and nobody will be able to stop me!".
It’s dark, I can still feel the water dripping from the stalagmite, but now I’m in this shallow pool of water, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to take courage and get out. My eyes start to get heavy, but for fear that some creature can attack me I can not afford to close them and let sleep pervade me.
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Hours and hours have passed, or maybe just a few minutes, or maybe a few days and a gurgling noise breaks the silence of the cave: I’m hungry!
I try to resist hunger as much as I can knowing that I would not be able to get anything to eat anyway, but hunger continues to grow and grow and I do not know how long I will still be able to resist. I don’t know how much time has passed since I fell in this pool where fear held me captive, but hunger broke those chains to be satiated and then I get up and wander into the cave looking for something to put under my teeth.
After a few minutes of research something pesto, something viscous and I understand that it is another slime that, following my contact, began to emit acid.
The scream of pain remains, alchè, compared to the first time I came into contact with the corrosive acid of slime, this hurts less. I guess because of the skill I got.
I remove the foot of the slime that was big, so much to reach my ankle when another gurgling, so strong to be able to shake my whole body, then, disgusted, I decide to eat the only thing that I think can be edible.
I cup my hands and, burning them by dipping them in the small slime, I detach a part of slime from the rest of the body and open my mouth. So, with an even more powerful sense of nausea, perhaps more than the pain I feel holding this snot-like creature, thickened. I try to scream, but the screams are smothered by slime, I try to swallow the bite while the mouth seems to be on fire by how much acid, and once swallowed the pain spreads throughout the digestive system, I prepare my hands again to detach a part of slime that is still standing next to my ankle.
Not that I can see it, but I do know that these monsters are very slow, and therefore that you can’t move from time to time. So key around to try to be sure of its location when... everything gets sharper, everything becomes like... brighter though it keeps the same darkness as before. I can see! I can’t see perfectly but the silhouettes more or less I see them. And there it is, slime, a few inches of my foot to move slowly to find its prey.
To dispel my doubts, I checked my status.
"status"
- Name: ######
Class: none
Titles: ####
Level: 2
PV: 21/50
Mana: 22/22
Features:
Strength: 11 Agility: 13
Constitution: 10 Intelligence: 14
Spirit: 23
Skill:
#####: level # info:#
Acid resistance: level 1 info+
Night vision: level 1 info-
It allows vision, not total, but more clearly, in dark or secluded places. The range of vision is dictated by intelligence. Always active.
Just as I had imagined, I got a new ability; I was sincerely hoping for another level or an improvement in ability, but you can’t ask for everything from life. I also notice that I had probably recovered some health points that I took while pounding and eating the piece of slime.
Now I return to do what I was doing before being interrupted, eating slime. They reposition the hands to cup and detach another piece and another again and on the third the slime is finally over and I still do not feel full, but with the whole body destroyed by acids, So, I decide to go back to my pool and wait for it to regenerate me so I can eat more. Now recognizing the shapes of things I can recognize my cockpit, it is not very large as I had already understood: it is almost a circle that maybe manages to reach two meters in diameter and 6 centimeters deep.
I just take a couple of steps and dive into the water; unfortunately I give in to sleep and fall asleep.
I wake up after I do not know how long, not being able to distinguish the day-night cycle, but with my stomach still grumbling and so it’s time to go back to hunting other slime. I get up and after just a few steps I see my next prey crawling slowly along the irregular wall of the cave. This, however, compared to the other two that I found earlier is smaller and with a single stroke I take it and swallow it and, accompanied by the usual excruciating pain that covers all my stomach, I continue to look for others unappetizing slime, so I started looking around for the same.
It didn’t take long to find another slime, which was at least triple the previous one. But this slime looks different. Even with my low-level night vision I can notice a color change although I can’t say for sure that it is darker and more intense. Regardless of this I approach and with the usual position of the hands, I dip them to detach a piece of the monster, however, when I just insert my hands in the mud.
A pain much more powerful than what I felt the first time, enveloped me, a pain that not only seems to burn me, but that incinerates me cell by cell. Deciding that I wasn’t willing to give up, I cut the piece and swallow it. Bad idea.
An even stronger pain, which seemed to destroy my esophagus, made me wriggle and made me fall to the ground. As I gasped, I started rolling to the left and right. That pain continued for at least a good minute and when it subsided I turned away from the creature and went to my pool to rest, still with a sore stomach.
Without being able to do anything but suffer I said
"status"
- Name: ######
Class: none
Titles: ######
"Life Desire" -
Obtained by those who want to survive at the cost of experiencing immense pain. Increase the constitution by +5 permanently and a reduction in pain by 1%.
Level: 2
PV: 3/75
Mana: 22/22
Features:
Strength: 11 Agility: 13
Constitution: 10 (+5) Intelligence: 14
Spirit: 23
Skill:
#####: level # info:#
Acid resistance: level 2 info+
Night vision: level 1 info+
Keeping an eye on status I wait for my health to regenerate to confront that cursed slime.
It took several hours, I don’t know exactly how many because I had fallen asleep again, since recovering life was very tiring. I started looking for that thing: I didn’t find it immediately, it took me a while, but there it was, in front of me. I can’t say if it was really him but I don’t care, I approach calmly and with extreme caution I extract a small part with my fingers; it did hurt but nothing comparable to the one before, perhaps thanks to the skill and the new title. So, in small mouthfuls, I ate the slime, I need more than a hundred to finish it completely and after I finished I think, ENOUGH SLIME! So after a little sleep at the pool I started to wander around the cave in search of the exit.
Vague and vague, and slowly I try more and more to take the road that went upwards, and after various attempts and dead ends, I began to glimpse a light and with a fast step I headed towards it.
But blocking the exit was a big slime even darker than the others with something inside.
That spherical thing started turning around and I know it was an eye! Worried by this horrendous vision I prepare to climb over the slime with what should have been a jump. But even before he managed to jump the slime he spat something; I lowered my head in time to dodge the viscous substance. I turn around and see that the stalagmite that was hit at the base, comes off and falls loudly. The monster shoots again and moving the leg dodge by a breath again.
I take a few steps to shorten the distance to allow me to leap out of this bloody cave once and for all!
But this time with a shorter distance, what looked like an acid arrow hits me in the right leg. Screaming I fall to the ground. The look of the monster lowers and looking me in the eyes seems to want to hit me.
I start screaming, "What do I do, what do I do?! Whatever this thing does, it’s gonna shoot its goddamn acid in my face and I’m gonna be transfigured for life!!"
In desperation I jump on the slime and start digging to dismember it, my hands burned, but I kept digging.
From the eye another arrow starts but, waiting for it, I dodge and quickly thicken the eye and by pressing I make it explode.
The slime dissolved itself.
- Message of the System-
- By killing a monster of a level much higher than yours, you will be awarded a prize
- Check status to see more details -
Grinning for my victory I pronounced.
"status".