I opened my eyes to a blurry palette of blue and white, but within a few seconds, it cleared. For the first time in the last decade, my vision was crystal clear. I gasped a lungful of fresh air before a feeling of overwhelming joy buzzed to life across my entire body. My skin felt tight and firm, and my heart pounded like a bass drum without skipping a beat. It was as if my brain had been planted into a clone of myself from my mid-twenties. The pain of old age was replaced with an exotic euphoria pumping vigorously through my veins.
The sounds of chirping birds caught my attention before I came to the crux of the matter, where am I? The fingertips of the grass I lay upon tickled my arms as I pushed myself up, keen to see what other wonders this place offered.
It appeared I must have landed in a vast meadow of some sort. Shrubs, flowers, and even some scattered trees littered my immediate area, along with some rocks thrown into the mix. Either this was heaven, or I had truly entered this ‘sub-space’ realm.
I took my first steps. “What the…-” And that was when I realized I was completely nude. “Could have programmed some clothes in this darn thing.” I scoffed before noticing a peculiar object resting snugly upon my left wrist. A small blue orb surrounded by a metallic casing hugged my skin. It was perfectly connected to my wrist, almost to the point I didn't even feel it there. Naturally, curious about what it would do, I pressed the orb.
[Initializing system…]
[Creating profile: Alistair Creed]
What? A small holographic screen appeared before my eyes, with the source of the light coming from within the orb. From the looks of it, it was a kind of menu…
Profile
Inventory
It looked rather basic, something akin to the RPGs of the 1990s. It just so happens I was a massive nerd about these things during my teenage years… Those thousand plus hours of scouring the lands of Skyrim could prove useful here. I felt confident in my abilities to progress in this new world. Most of the options were locked except for two, [Profile] and [Inventory]. I hovered my finger across to [Profile] and pressed it.
<<
Profile
Level: 0
0/100 XP
HP: 100/100
SP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Head: None
?
Torso: None
?
Arms: None
?
Legs: None
?
Feet: None
?
Accessories:
None
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?
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Another screen appeared, this one significantly larger than the one before. There was a lot of information missing. At least what was there was information relating to my level, which to no surprise, read zero. This also made sense to me as I had just entered a world similar to the games I played as a child. Directly next to this was another box that displayed information relating to my experience points, abbreviated as ‘XP,’ of which I had zero out of a hundred. From what I could gather, I would need to gain a hundred XP before I could level up.
Directly next to this, there was a box displaying my stats: [Health Points (HP)], [Stamina Points (SP),] and [Magic Points (MP)], respectively. They were all a hundred out of a hundred. And that was everything this menu gave me. I knew more things would unlock as I progressed and more than likely upgrade my measly stats—something that sparked a hunger within me to know more.
I clicked back before hitting the [Inventory] button, and another screen appeared.
<<
Inventory
?
Cotton Pants 100%
Cloth Shoes 100%
Survival Kit
Capacity: 10.3/250
At the top, there was a blacked-out section, and just under it rested a box displaying a list of everything within my inventory. Currently, I only had four items: [Cotton Tunic], [Cotton Pants], [Cloth Shoes], and a [Survival Kit]. All the items except for the survival kit had a percentage of one hundred next to them.
I hovered over the [Cotton Tunic] only to be given a short description of the item, [Level:0 A simple cotton tunic], It made sense these items would be Level 0 as it was normal for starting equipment to be low level. I wasn’t sure why the system didn’t start me at a higher level, nor why it gave me such low-level items, but I doubted I would be able to wear them if they were higher level. Something that would need to be tested at a later date.
A cool breeze swept across the meadow brushing against my bare skin, my cue not to delay any longer. Naturally, I hovered my finger upon the items of clothing before selecting them, and just like that, they were equipped, appearing upon my body within an instant without having to put them on.
[You equipped Cotton Tunic]
[You equipped Cotton Pants]
[You equipped Cloth Shoes]
“Now that’s frickin’ cool.” I grinned, observing how comfortable they felt upon my body.
The only other item that remained was the [Survival Kit], which was described as: “A chest full of survival equipment.” Along with that, it looked as though it took up ten spaces of inventory space which was neatly displayed at the bottom of the screen, ten point three out of two hundred and fifty.
Before clicking it crossed my mind, I decided to hold off for now. I needed to know more about this new world before finding a more permanent spot to build a small camp. Were other people here? Were there creatures lurking around, waiting for me to sleep before killing me? Would death be permanent here? Too many questions raced through my mind before a slight gurgling from my stomach snapped me back. I needed food and water with nothing of the sort in my inventory. I decided I would need to find something to eat before I died of hunger. I didn’t want to use the survival kit just yet, not until I found a more suitable place to camp. With how realistic this world had been so far, I sure as hell didn't want to go around testing the death mechanics out.
With a new goal in mind, I took a few moments to take in my surroundings once again. In the far distance, the silhouettes of tall trees presented themselves. Apart from that, there was another area where the concentration of flora clearly looked slightly denser. It didn’t take a genius to know I would find something there or if this world hated me, nothing at all. But without going in for a closer look there was no way to be sure. With that in mind, I began my trek there.
That was when another notification appeared on the wrist-mounted orb. There was no visual indication but rather a feeling I felt within me. I pressed the orb. A new option was available in the [Map] menu. Upon pressing it, another option appeared, [Initialize Area Scan.] Without an inkling of what it did, I pressed it to see… what it did.
A circular loading bar appeared before being completely filled as the system processed the data, out of nowhere. A map of the local area appeared, along with another option to place a waypoint. The map wasn't fully complete but rather appeared to fill itself in after observing the area for the first time, obviously it had a limit on its range which was approximately one hundred metres in every direction. Seemed pretty standard to me for an RPG.
I would need to travel the whole expanse of the map to fill it in completely, but that would take ages. The waypoint feature would allow me to keep track of certain areas in case I wanted to return later. In addition, another option allowed me to switch to a larger world map where only a small dot appeared to be filled in. The system also allowed me to zoom in and out, but for now it was absolutely useless and thus, I closed it.
Something appeared in my vision, a small round circle with a local map of the area. It stayed in its spot, no matter which direction I looked, only rotating when I changed direction. The best way I can describe how it felt was that it looked something akin to augmented reality, in essence acting as a heads-up display (HUD).
With that done and dusted, I finally made my way towards the high density of flora. With every step, I could feel the soft grass being gently pressed along with the soil beneath. The sensations I could feel were surreal, even the air I breathed was fresh and invigorating but more importantly… I felt alive.
That’s when the succulent scent of lavender hit my nostrils like a tsunami and shifted my attention.