Chapter 001
Savar
Standing up slowly I looked around. I was on a lush green hill with trees dotting the landscape, flowing down to a full forest about a half mile below. I couldn’t remember why I was here but I was cognizant enough to know I was supposed to be. I remembered my past life and I could recall someone telling me that I was getting a second chance to live but I couldn’t recall who or why. What a strange feeling! I took a breath and calmed down as much as I could in spite of the fact that I was in a foreign place with no idea where that was.
Closing my eyes I breathed slowly and enjoyed the scent in the air. A lifetime of living in the city had gotten me used to bad smells, but out here, wherever here was, smelled wonderful and fresh. Opening my eyes I was surprised to see a blue window in my vision. The screen was a classic blue 16 bit RPG window, which was actually kind of rad. This really took me back to my early gaming days! Focusing on the window I read what it had to say:
[WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SAVAR! YOU ARE NOT WORLDBORN AND THUS THE FOLLOWING WILL BE A BRIEF EXPLANATION AS TO THE WHO/WHAT/WHEN OF YOUR NEW WORLD! WHO?! EVERY PERSON ON SAVAR IS FATED. THIS SIMPLY MEANS THAT THEIR CHOSEN PATH IS NARROW AND THEY CANNOT VEER FROM IT, ELSE THEY REALIZE THEY CANNOT ADVANCE! THIS IS NOT AS FATALISTIC AND DEPRESSING AS IT SOUNDS, I PROMISE! THAT FATE STEMS FROM THEMSELVES AND AS SUCH NOT MANY HAVE FELT THE IRON BANDS OF DESTINY HOLDING THEM BACK! THE FARMER WILL FARM, THE ADVENTURER WILL GO FORTH AND LEARN NEW FIGHTING TECHNIQUES, THE MAGE WILL LEARN NEW MAGIC! AS AN OUTSIDER TO THIS WORLD YOU QUALIFY FOR CERTAIN BENEFITS THAT WORLDBORN DO NOT! FIRST TALENT UNLOCKED IS [UNBOUND]! YOU HAVE NO FATE! NO DESTINY! THAT IS NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS! YOU CAN STILL DO GREAT THINGS, BUT THOSE THINGS ARE NOT ROTE UPON DESTINY! YOU SHALL BRING CHANGE! WILL THAT CHANGE BRING GOOD OR ILL INTO THE WORLD? IT IS TOO SOON TO FIND OUT!]
I swayed a bit, talk about information overload! Hmm, seems like this world is called Savar and that I’m intruding on an established world filled with destiny. Hope that doesn’t come to bite me in the ass in the future! I’ll have to figure out what this talent [unbound] means, though it sounds pretty straightforward. I decided to keep reading because I needed all the information I was going to get about where I was.
[AS AN OUTSIDER YOU MAY BE UNFAMILIAR WITH BEINGS OR ITEMS AND AS SUCH YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE TALENT [ASSAY] AS WELL AS [LANGUAGES] TO HELP YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY! YOU WILL FIND A GREAT MANY THINGS THAT HAVE A GREAT MANY USES IN YOUR TRAVELS (ASSUMING YOU TRAVEL, LETS BE HONEST AS AN UNBOUND OUTSIDER YOU COULD JUST RETIRE IN THE FIRST TOWN YOU SEE) AND APPLYING THEM WILL BE UP TO YOU! YOU ARE BY THE LUMINARY WOODS. THIS IS A LIVELY FOREST. WHERE YOU GO AND WHAT YOU DO IS UP TO YOU! AS SOMEONE WHO CAME TO THIS WORLD GROWN AND HAS TO START ANEW YOU HAVE UNLOCKED [SKILL LINK] PLEASE ENJOY YOUR OBSCENELY OVERPOWERED GIFT! TO SEE YOUR MENU JUST THINK [MENU], TO SEE YOUR STATUS, JUST THINK [STATUS]. YOU MAY ALSO THINK OF ANY OF THE MYRIAD MENUS AND SETTINGS SUCH AS [SKILLS], [SETTINGS], [INVENTORY], OR [MAP] AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS THEM. IT’S INTUITIVE! A LAST NOTE OF CAUTION TO YOU OUTSIDER: THE WORLD OF SAVAR IS MOSTLY HAPPY TO WELCOME PEOPLE. THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD SPREAD AROUND THE IDEA THAT YOU ARE FROM OUTSIDE OF THIS WORLD UNTIL YOU ARE READY AND ABLE TO PROTECT YOURSELF. NOT EVERYONE IS A FRIEND AND BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO THOSE THAT UPSET THE NATURAL ORDER. BUT THEN AGAIN AS SOMEONE OUTSIDE OF FATE AND DESTINY YOU ARE WONT TO DO AS YOU WILL! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!]
I stood there contemplating everything just thrown at me in that infodump and I was quite surprised that it hadn’t freaked me out as much as it could have. I was always a level-headed person but game menus in a new world? Shouldn’t I be losing my mind?! But it was the opposite, I was feeling excited at what could be. ANYTHING. Anything could be. I was realizing that I could be anyone I want to here and there was no one to tell me I was wrong in choosing to. Also if this menu was correct and the people of the world knew fate, no one would really try to correct me as I could just say I was following my fate. That remained to be seen though.
Okay, first things first let’s see if I can access menus as easily as I was told I could and find out what these talents are about! As a gamer I’d never look down on shortcuts to min-maxing! I thought Menu to myself and bam, there it was, in my face! Okay, intro-screen-person was correct, that was totally intuitive! I mentally selected [SKILLS/TALENTS] and a new window opened showing [ASSAY], [LANGUAGES], [SKILL LINK], and [UNBOUND]. I selected unbound and a description window appeared.
[UNBOUND: THE TALENT THAT DEFINES AN OUTSIDER. SINCE OUTSIDERS ARE FREE FROM FATE OR DESTINY THEY ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEIR OWN, AND AS SUCH ARE NOT BOUND BY NORMAL MEANS AS TO WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF LEARNING. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF LEARNING ANY SKILL, TALENT, OR MAGIC. NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS TO YOU, EVEN THINGS THAT ARE USUALLY OFF LIMITS TO HUMANS OR EXCLUSIVE TO OTHER RACES CAN BE LEARNED BY YOU. THIS IS PRACTICALLY A CHEAT CODE OUTSIDER, BETTER NOT LET OTHERS KNOW OF THIS! OR TELL THEM, I’M NOT YOUR PARENT.]
Huh.. that sounds.. unbelievably broken! Hype! I mean anything that makes it easier for me here I won’t complain about, I AM alone in the woods on an alien planet after all! Okay but working this out I can learn.. ANYTHING? I will seriously have to figure out the limits of that talent, though the description seems to hint there ARE no limits. Leave it to me to break that somehow!
Next I focused on [ASSAY]:
[ASSAY: THE GOLD STANDARD IN “FINDING IT OUT”. JUST LOOK AT ANYTHING, HONESTLY LITERALLY ANYTHING, AND USE ASSAY AND YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT IT. DEPENDING ON WHAT IT IS YOU MAY GET MORE OR LESS INFORMATION]
Okay, interesting. I looked down at the ground at the grass moving in the gentle breeze and though “Assay!” at it. [Healthy Green Grass] popped up directly over the grass. Hmm. Okay I wasn’t expecting secrets to the world with that one so honestly the fact it told me it was healthy was more than I anticipated. I’ll have to see what assaying a person or animal shows me! Another possibly broken ability depending on what it shows.. I should feel bad for having such a leg up but.. I DON’T! Haha! Gimme gimme gimme all the talents!
Next I chose [LANGUAGES]:
[LANGUAGES: AS AN OUTSIDER YOU WOULD BE STUMBLING AROUND IN THE DARK WITHOUT THIS ONE. NO ONE HERE SPEAKS “ENGLISH” SO YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SCREWED WITHOUT IT, AT LEAST IN THE SHORT TERM. THIS TALENT ALLOWS YOU TO UNDERSTAND AND USE ANY AND ALL LANGUAGES, BE IT SPOKEN OR WRITTEN. NOT JUST ONE, ALL OF THEM. WHO GAVE YOU ALL THESE BROKEN TALENTS?!]
This one was pretty straightforward. But still like it said, broken. How many people knew a bunch of languages let alone all of them? According to my unbound talent description there are other races as well, does that include classics such as elves and dwarves? If so knowing their language off the bat is HUGE! For whatever reason I’m on this planet I’m just happy to get such an ungodly leg up.
Finally I checked [SKILL LINK]:
[SKILL LINK: LEVELING GOT YOU DOWN? SO MANY SKILLS (BILLIONS MORE THAN ANY OTHER PERSON ON SAVAR CAN LEARN, YOU CHEATER!) TO LEVEL BUT YOU HAVEN’T THE TIME? HAVE NO FEAR, SKILL LINK IS HERE! CHOOSE ONE SKILL TO LINK TO ANOTHER AND WHEN EITHER OF THE LINKED SKILLS EARN EXPERIENCE THE OTHER WILL GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE. THAT’S RIGHT! BROKEN XP GAINS! HARD TO LEVEL SKILLS? WHO NEEDS THAT?! ATTACH ‘EM TO SOMETHING EASY AND MAKE THEM GO UP, UP, UP! SERIOUSLY, WHO DID YOU MASSAGE TO GET THIS SKILL, TALK ABOUT OP AND BROKEN.]
I was at a loss. This was nuts to my gamer-brain. Basically double-speed skill gain? And if there are skills that are inherently hard to level for whatever reason I could attach them to something super easy and just level that one instead to get them both raised? Not even mad at Menu for its snark, that is so OP I can hardly handle it! Now it just seems that I have to figure out how hard leveling skills is in this world. And what constitutes a skill. And uh like, everything else. Like I know almost nothing about where I am. Thinking about it, I don’t know what time it is and I’m on a hill with no civilization In sight.. this could end up poorly. Whelp, before that I should check out my stats! Thinking about it I brought up the [STATUS] menu I noticed on the main menu earlier and a new window popped up.
NAME <…> “Choose to name yourself”
LEVEL: 1
HEALTH: 18/18 (STR X 2) REGEN (STR/5 + CON/5 + LEVEL) PER HOUR
MANA: 24/24 (INT X 2) REGEN (WIS/5 + LEVEL) PER HOUR
STAMINA: 20/20 (CON X 2) REGEN (CON/5) PER MINUTE
Unallocated Points: 0
STRENGTH: 9
DEXTERITY: 12
CONSTITUTION: 10 (NAT AR: 2) (CON/5)
INTELLIGENCE: 12
WISDOM: 10
CHARISMA: 13
Seems to be standard gaming stats, works for me! Though that health amount is looking quite low, going to have to work on that, I need survivability! Also, I get to choose my name? That’s cool for someone wanting to start over but I love my name it already sounds cool to me. Selecting “NAME” I input “Nyla Darke”.
Wow, what should I do? I’m on a hill looking at a forest and I am at a loss as to what I should really be doing! Am I safe enough here to check out the rest of the menus? I don’t seem to have anything with me but the clothes I’m wearing.. speaking of. Looking down I see I’m wearing rough cotton-like brown pants and a matching long-sleeve button up shirt. Peeking in my shirt I notice that I’m not wearing a bra, instead my chest seemed to be wrapped in a long white cloth. No bras here or are they expensive? I’m going to miss sports bras if they don’t have the equivalent here! On my feet are very soft leather-like moccasin style shoes that are tied closed with what looks to be more strips of the same type of material. I check my pockets to see if they’re empty and find nothing.
Wait! There was an Inventory option! Thinking about the word Inventory directly enough caused the [INVENTORY] screen to open up. I have items! Score! My inventory screen showed:
SPACE REMAINING: ∞
MONEY:
PLATINUM: 0
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
GOLD: 1
SILVER: 10
COPPER: 100
ROWANWOOD: 100
WEAPONS:
-Weak One-handed Sword
UTILITY:
-Sleeping Bag
-Torch: 5
-Rope: 50 feet
-Flint and Steel
-Wood Axe
FOOD:
-Standard Bulk Rations: 15
-Canteen: Full
MISC:
-Tome of Weak Fireball: 1
-Bandages: 5
Ooh I have money! Most of this is standard RPG money but I have no idea what Rowanwood is in regards to money that’s a new one for me, gonna have to look into that. And space remaining is.. is that the infinity symbol? Does that mean I can hold literally infinite items? I’m going to have to look into this and see what limits are imposed upon me! What if I could just put mountains in my Inventory hahaha! On second thought that would probably get me in a lot of trouble even if I could.. but I still need to find out the soft limits! I also have a sword and a weak fireball tome, that has got to be good! I’m for sure learning magic ASAP! Okay so how do I do this?
Thinking of the Tome of Weak Fireball I tried to imagine taking it out of my inventory and grasping it in my hands. Almost instantly there was a very small book in my hands, about the size of my palm and one inch thick. I would’ve thought a magical tome would be grander or more majestic. Testing out how it all works I imagine the tome back in my inventory and it immediately vanishes from my hand. I reach down and touch a rock the size of a quarter and think “Put In Inventory” and it disappears. I wonder how intuitive this system is? I touch another rock and think “Store” and it also disappears. I look into my inventory and there they are:
[Small Rock: 2]
That is pretty intuitive I have to say. One more time I pull the Tome of Weak Fireball out of my inventory. I look at it wondering how I’m supposed to learn it. I open to the first page and a window pops up in my vision.
[ATTEMPTING TO LEARN: WEAK FIREBALL. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE? NOTE THAT LARGER OR MORE COMPLEX SPELL TOMES HAVE A CHANCE OF FAILURE TO LEARN THE INCLUDED MAGIC. NO DAMAGE WILL BE DONE TO YOU IF YOU FAIL TO LEARN THE SPELL.]
I think “Yes” to confirm that I want to learn the spell and immediately the tome lifts out of my hands and the pages start flying by while the words and symbols lift up and come towards me colliding with my forehead. It was a shocking thing to be a part of because I really wasn’t expecting such a dynamic show. I could feel the information flooding into my brain and it was rather intense. After about 5 seconds the tome burst into flames and disappeared and at the bottom of my vision I got a new notification.
[SPELL LEARNED: WEAK FIREBALL]
I opened my [MENU] and processed all the options:
STATUS
SKILLS
SPELLS
TRAITS
TALENTS
MAP
INVENTORY
PARTY
QUEST LOG
NOTES
SETTINGS
I focused on [SPELLS] and that menu opened showing the one spell I had just learned:
SPELLS:
-(Weak) Fireball: LVL 1
Cost: 5 MP
A small amount of area effect fire damage to the location indicated within sight. Enemies hit directly take more damage and have a chance to be caught on fire.
Okay so I know how to use a fireball now. Time to test out how it works! It costs 5 MP so I can cast it at least 4 times and if my math is correct I regenerate 3 mana per hour which seems SO LOW but depending on how fast I level could really start to go up quickly. Even if it’s that slow now I have to try it to know that I can do it, don’t want to get caught with my pants down if something attacks me since I seem to be in the middle of nowhere. I point my finger at a larger boulder sticking out of the ground about 50 feet away and think “fireball!” and with a WHOOSH a hot ball of flames explodes out of my finger and heads towards the boulder, hitting it and leaving small scorch marks. The fireball was about as fast as an arrow! I expected to be a lot slower so that works out well. Although if I ever go up against something that can use fireballs I’m probably going to get roasted, oof. I need to level! And I need to find a town or someplace safe!
I think about retrieving the sword from my inventory and it appears in my hand. It’s in a sheath attached to a belt, all made of what seems to be cheap leather. I put the belt on and arrange the sword to my left side. Then I pull the sword out of the sheath with my right hand trying to look badass while I do it. Style points! It looks to be a normal one handed sword with a cross guard and pommel, with the handle wrapped in brown leather. The blade looks so dull I doubt it would really cut me deep if I ran my finger along its edge. I use [ASSAY] on it and it shows [Weak One-handed Sword: ATK 1-4]. I really doubt the use of this thing in actual battle but it’s better than nothing for now. I swing it back and forth a bit to get the weight and feel of it.
[SKILL LEARNED: ONE-HANDED SWORDS]
Ooookay that was easy. I swing it around for a couple more minutes to see if that will work but get no more skill gains. Guess it wasn’t so much a skill gain as an unlock for using a sword for the first time? Looking at my [SKILLS] menu shows I’m level one. Remembering my broken talent I think to myself [SKILL LINK] and can literally feel the options open in my head of what can be attached. As of right now I feel that only One-Handed Swords and Weak Fireball can be linked so I accept that Link and think to close out all my screens. There was nothing in [TRAITS], [PARTY], [NOTES], OR [QUEST LOG] so I’ll leave those alone for now. [SETTINGS] seems like too much for me to take in right now. Okay there’s a lot to learn but for now I need to get to some place safe before I root around in every menu and check out every option! But [MAP] may help me see where I am or what is near. I open [MAP] and it’s a standard overhead game map that shows terrain. I’m in the middle labeled “Nyla”. I see options to zoom in and out. I can see about 100 yards in each direction but right now it’s all green hills and some rocks and boulders. I think “zoom out” and it zooms out immediately. Unfortunately everything not in a sphere of 100 yards around me is greyed out.
Closing out the map I take a much closer look at my surroundings and try to plan where I’m headed. If I saw a stream that would be perfect, everyone knows you follow water to civilization. But I see none so nix that plan. Hold on.. looking quite far in the distance that it seems to be on the horizon I see what might be a small amount of smoke like what you would see from a chimney. It’s so far away that I can’t be sure what I’m actually seeing is smoke but the only other options are up into the mountains behind me or in another random direction in the woods. It might be a bonfire or campfire, it might be monsters or enemies, or it could be a town! I have no idea but I want to find out. I’m not just going to sit here and wait for dark to come, who knows what could happen! I make a note of the position of the sun and cross my fingers that Savar has North South East and West based on the sun like on Earth or that at least I can use the sun to find my way as I don’t have a compass or any other way to tell what direction I’m going. I do worry that I won’t be able to see the sun when I get into the deeper forest but if it comes to that I’ll climb a tree of I have to. What else can I do?!
Just to be on the safe side I carry my sword in my right hand even though I have a sheath, and start walking due south towards what could be fire. Hopefully it’s south, I’ll ask when I meet someone! It takes me 20 minutes to get to the heavy woods and with a steady slow breath I walk into the shade the trees provide. Walking slowly I look out for anything that might be dangerous. My mind is on spiders, bears, wolves, or whatever monsters are in a monster world. Are Goblins here?! Thankfully the ground is pretty solid with not much overgrowth, the tree roots aren’t too bad to climb over but I can definitely feel myself getting winded for the effort. The trees so far haven’t gotten close enough together that I can’t see the sky anymore but the sun is off to my right enough that I can’t see it and everything is shaded. As if being alone in the woods wasn’t bad enough the shadows moving keep making me think something is nearby. Oh god brain NO, now is NOT the time to think of the Blair Witch! Damn intrusive thoughts!
Two hours later I’m just beat, taking deep breaths wondering why I felt like utter crap, so I lean against a tree and open my [STATUS] window. I notice my stamina is at 0/20. Ugh. I’m so puny right now, level 1 is the worst haha. Despite no stamina I need to keep going, I’ll have to keep checking to make sure it doesn’t do health damage but I can’t be in these woods alone for too long or I could be in trouble! Continuing on for a while I hear what sounds like a fight up ahead. I stop immediately and listen. I can hear a loud squeaky sound that I think is someone or something’s voice, and a bit of growling. I listen for a couple minutes afraid to move because who knows what is fighting what. None of it sounds human so I’m not exactly going to burst into heroics at the moment so save what could be two monsters from each other. I check my stamina and see its at 8/20 after kneeling here for a few minutes so I decide to move up slowly and see if I can get a bead on what’s going on. Crouched, I move quietly so as not to be heard. I feel like I’m getting close when a notification pops up in the bottom of my vision and makes me jump.
[SKILL LEARNED: SNEAK]
Okay that might help. I continue on until I come around a larger tree and see a wolf and I freeze. It’s facing away from me and it’s eating something on the ground, a smallish green thing. I [ASSAY] the wolf and see [STARVING WOLF LVL 3]. I freak for a second before I steel my nerve and ready my sword. I have to it there’s no way I could back up and it wouldn’t hear me! Without moving I lift my hand and point at the wolf and cast fireball. The fireball hits and with a WHOOMP explodes against the wolf, lighting its hindquarters on fire.
[SNEAK ATTACK CRITICAL HIT ON STARVING WOLF: DOUBLE DAMAGE]
[SKILL LEVEL GAINED: (WEAK)FIREBALL IS NOW LEVEL 2]
[SKILL LEVEL GAINED: ONE-HANDED SWORDS IS NOW LEVEL 2]
[SKILL LEVEL GAINED: SNEAK IS NOW LEVEL 2]
The messages popping up in my vision startle me and throw me off as the wolf turns to look at me and charges straight towards me. I fall back on my ass when he jumps towards me and he impales himself through the chest on the sword I was holding in front of me defensively. He stops moving and I use the sword to toss him to the side.
[STARVING WOLF DEFEATED]
[LEVEL UP! NEW LEVEL IS 2. YOU GAIN 2 ATTRIBUTE POINTS AND ONE SKILL POINT]
I sit there out of breath for a couple minutes just trying to work through the fact that I just fought a wolf. An actual wolf. And I won! Pretty sure it was wounded from the fight he was in earlier with that green thing but hey it was my first fight in this world! I kneel over the wolf and look down upon it. Hmm. Not much blood for being shanked with a sword, honestly was expecting the gore to be nasty but it’s not even leaking. Looking down at my clothes I notice I have no blood on me either. What is this? Is Savar working on a PG-13 rating? Works for me if it means I don’t have to wash blood out of my clothes daily. I gently touch the wolf’s pelt and feel the bristly fur. I thought it would have been softer. Guess it makes sense, it’s a wolf not a rabbit or something. Before I removed my hand I felt a sense of something from the corpse. Concentrating on it I got a new notification.
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOOT: STARVING WOLF?]
I thought yes in my head and got a few more messages.
[RECEIVED: STARVING WOLF PELT: 1]
[RECEIVED: STARVING WOLF MEAT: 2]
[RECEIVED: ROWANWOOD: 10]
[SKILL LEARNED: LOOT]
In shock I watched as the wolf disappeared in a blue-green mist. Poof just gone in the wind. There was no trace that a bloodied animal was just there or anything! I pulled up my inventory and saw that everything I received was in fact put directly into my inventory. Okay no needing to carve up animals for furs and pelts? Insta loot? That.. that changes the game. I’m talking level grinding without the need to stop to loot for more than a couple seconds, no needing to butcher or search for items? Wait I wonder if it works with magical item drops.. if there are even magical item drops hah. Or what if you’re in a party? Too many questions! I walk over to the green thing and [ASSAY] it as [Goblin LVL 1]. I touch it and use [LOOT].
[RECEIVED: ROWANWOOD: 10]
Not much on this little guy. As it disappears I thought to myself it would have been a bit smarter to actually inspect it to really see what it looked like. Next time. I look around seeing the sun getting lower and it’s starting to worry me. I focus on where the sun is coming down and face south again and start moving at a jog. At a guess I would say I made it 80 percent of the way to where the possible smoke was but I’m not used to trekking through the woods so I could be off by a good margin. As I’m moving I think to myself about the Stat and Skill points I earned from leveling and I really want to stop and look at what all that means for me but I’ve got to make more headway so I keep on moving at a medium speed while paying attention to my surroundings in case anything tries to attack. What a day this has been so far. I keep wondering if my first night in Savar will have me sleeping in the woods alone and hope against that.