It took some arguing but finally, I convinced her to stay by refusing to leave. She was anxious but then began to loot the rage badger corpses. At least this time the name matched the creature. What was confusing was how she knelt next to the carcass. Rather than just waving her hand to loot it, she took out her small dagger and began working on its skin.
As I sat there watching her, she looked up impatiently and said, “Youz do da other onez.”
I was dumbfounded. My only experience with looting in this world involved hitting a loot button. As I paid closer attention, I began to understand. The auto loot option was still available to me. But she was getting more items than I might normally get from a creature.
I was unsure what she expected me to do, but I pulled out my belt knife and started trying to imitate what Kittikork was doing. Another notification popped up. I still hadn’t read the ones from combat, but this one kept flashing every time I tried to cut at the fur.
Available Gathering Skill: Skinning Cost: 150 XP Would you like to spend the XP necessary to buy this skill?
Legends of Selmia was a game with consistent XP even if it wasn’t always gained as fast as you wanted. You earned 20 XP for killing a similar level monster. For each level above your own you got a cumulative +25% XP. Creatures that were past certain levels were worth extra. I expected those level caps are what the NPC’s called thresholds. There was also a numerical bonus if you were outnumbered.
Thus, I had only gotten 31 and 39 XP respectively from the level 3 and level 4 rage badgers. Whereas I had gotten 175 from the three level 3 snapjaws because of being outnumbered. Even the huge bonus I had gotten for fighting and ultimately dying to the bear-pede only pushed me up to 815 XP total.
There was no way to justify the expense of 150 XP to buy a skill now. I wondered why I had gotten certain skills for free early on and other skills were costing me XP. It was like the system made it easy for me to fight as a monster, but made me pay for anything else.
Ultimately, because I didn’t accept the skill, I botched the skinning. At least I got some twenty pounds of rage badger meat. Even then, that was less than half of what Kittikork had harvested from hers. When she looked as though she was going to criticize me, I asked her to just get started with her gathering.
It ended up taking her two hours of gathering. She tried to hurry, but she was constantly distracted by looking back at me. I killed two more rage badgers and a sparkling hare. None of them were over level three, so I ended up with another 93 XP. The question in my head was whether I should automatically level up to level two when I got the necessary XP or not.
If I understood correctly, I would get some stat points by leveling up, but my racial bonus already dwarfed the gains I would make in terms of Strength and Constitution. So, while I could and likely would end up adding to my casting stats, I didn’t feel like I knew the set up well enough to assign the two points I already had available.
More than that, because I got extra XP for fighting monsters above my level it would be detrimental to my progression. Even for players, Legends of Selmia didn’t just have one clear path of progression. Increasing skills by usage was often every bit as important or perhaps more so than mere levels. Players needed the levels because they started with low health, but I didn’t have that problem. I already had more health than three level one players combined.
It gave me a lot to think about and I was still learning the differences between being a monster and a “player.” Kittikork’s staring also kept disturbing me. I never met anyone who could stare so loudly. She said nothing, but between plucking various roots, mosses, and flowers she seemed to be trying to peer into my soul.
Finally, as the sun was setting, and I knew we needed to get back I asked her, “Are you about finished?”
“Mez haz everything on auntie’z list. Wait no, mez still needz some bladderwort. It sometimez growz out here. No find any yet,” she paused as she was speaking, like she was uncertain. She finally continued, “Wez go back.”
As I started to move she suddenly blurted out, “Is youz one of themz?”
I couldn’t help but wonder how she had figured it out. I mean I didn’t think the AI’s could even act as though they were aware of the difference between players and NPC’s. I cleared my throat to answer, but she cut me off again.
“Youz must be Oni. Tell mez it’z true. Maybe ourz tribe can finally regain ourz land.” The hopeful look on her face seemed strange with her ogre features, but was a good reminder of how complex this game could be. That was a good thing since if I’m going to be stuck here for my digital afterlife, I would go insane if I had to hear the same dialogue repeatedly.
Rather than give it away immediately, I played dumb. Maybe what she was thinking wasn't what I thought it was. “What do you mean?”
“Youz have magic at level one. Never seen that before. And youz have fire. Not even auntie haz fire,” Kittikork said. Now that she had started talking about it, her excitement bubbled out of her. It was more than a little amusing to see an eight-foot-tall ogress acting like a little child. “Youz just have to be onez. Were youz sent here to free uz?”
Now I was getting a bit confused. One thing I liked about Legends of Selmia was that they were building a world with deep lore, but the developers pledged there wouldn’t be any chosen ones or prophecies that had to be fulfilled a certain way. They said you could choose your own path and that prophecies could play out in many ways or not at all. Of course, those were the same people who had destroyed my body and co-opted me to help run their game as a digital slave for however long I lasted.
“Who are they? I only just arrived.”
“The Oni, of course,” Kittikork said as though that explained everything.
I knew what the word Oni meant from Japanese lore, but didn’t know how it related in this situation. “Are you saying that you think I’m not an ogre?”
Now it was her turn to look confused. “Oni are ogrez. Theyz just evolution of ogrez. Theyz smarter and have more magic. The legend sayz that one Oni would be stronger than a dozen elitez.”
It was interesting to hear her use the game term elites. That was a sub-type of monster that was stronger than others of their own kind. They didn’t normally appear until level twenty or higher, but back when I was in the outside world the message boards had threads about someone claiming to have fought an elite boar or goblin or other lesser monster.
Once again, I kept this close to my vest. So, I tried to say something mysterious. “I will be whatever the spirits decide. For now, I’m just a level one ogre outcast. Even you are a higher level than me.”
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“Yez, but youz use a spear good likez warrior. Youz have magic at level one. Youz must be an Oni. Tribe must learnz about youz,” she said.
That wasn’t good. I didn’t want to be with the ogres any longer than I had to be. Was this the AI’s way of trying to make me stay a monster? Thinking quickly, I said, “Kittikork, you can’t tell anyone. If you do, it could ruin whatever destiny the spirits have for me.” I tried to couch in the terms that I thought an ogre would relate to, as if I had any idea.
She thought for a moment and then said, “Mez tell auntie. Shez knowz what to do.”
“Deal. You can tell Mistress Shemi, but only her. Promise?” I asked.
She nodded vigorously and then stared at me like she was waiting for me to pull a rabbit out of my hat. I noticed that while talking we had managed to get all the way back to the shaman’s hut. “Just remember your promise, we are back now.”
She nodded again and then ran off towards Shemi’s hut. I immediately got a notification.
You have completed: Escort the Alchemist’s Niece
Auto Rewards: 100 XP, +50 Faction with Ogres, +75 Faction with Ghazban Village. See Shaman Shemi for further information.
Nice that the basic rewards got handed out automatically but for more specific things like an apprenticeship I would have to play or rather live it out. If I had to be killed and trapped in a digital world it was at least a good thing that the world was detailed. Now though, I was hungry. So I would see Shemi and then find out about food.
When I walked into the hut, Shemi was busy grinding some of the moss that Kittikork had collected in a mortar. “Youz have my thankz for bringing back me niece.”
“Of course, any family of yours is someone that I would treat with respect, Mistress Shemi,” I replied.
She looked at me and got a big grin. “Ah, youz mistake thingz. The entire tribe iz mez family. Mez only have favoritez that mez allow call mez auntie.”
“Oh, so she isn’t your sister’s child?” I asked, hoping to learn more about the set-up of the tribe.
“That isn’t ogre way, but most ogrez are born knowing thiz. Maybe there iz something to girl'z delusionz. Ogrez no thinkz like that. When nuff food and stuff, ogre and ogress do the dance. Then new ogre spawnz, just like youz did. Ogrez no think mating ogrez be parentz. Wez not like some racez. Wez no have immature spawn. Wez all spawn fully grown. Each is child of tribe,” Shemi answered.
I suppose that made sense. I had certainly never seen a baby goblin or other type of monster. “Ah, I see. But you said that the spirits told you that a new ogre would spawn and that was why you came to get me.”
“That iz also true. It is rare, but spiritz can spawn another ogre on own. It makez youz an outsider. Iz why youz faction started as tolerated to ogrez and neutral towardz village not as friendly and ally.”
That made even more sense. “You mentioned something about offering me an apprenticeship.”
“Yez, youz have succeeded. Kittikork say youz cast fire spellz. Youz do gud magic. Mez should known when mez saw tattooz on youz arm.”
I looked down again at the two rings of symbols that had appeared on my right arm when I learned my spells. Then I looked at her arms. She had more than a dozen such rings on her right arm and half a dozen on her left. I had been too caught up in being an ogre to even think about this.
In order to learn spells, certain types of players had to gather runes from rare monsters and dungeon quests and then craft the spell that they wanted to learn. It was one of the main reasons for adventurers to go out and fight monsters. XP was good, but everyone wanted runes for spells. It was also the reason the adventurer class was so highly sought after.
While classes like warrior had a multitude of weapons and armor training, an adventurer only began with one weapon skill. The same with magic. While a wizard boasted spells within numerous schools, they could only learn the spells that were pre-set in their class. An adventurer would only have access to one school or at the most two schools of magic, which would be randomly determined at character creation, but they could form their own spells out of runes.
It was part of the most sought-after trade skill, rune crafting, but as far as I knew, no one other than an adventurer had ever gotten that skill. Yet here I was with tattoos on my arms, just like an adventurer. The world had just gotten more complex.
“If I choose to be your apprentice, does that mean that I will become a shaman?” I asked.
“Maybe. Must pass threshold, level five. Ogre getz other class then. The spiritz sayz there be more classez but only theyz know. Chief Kerkek is highest. Hez level thirty. Youz could ask himz. But doubt hez will tell more. Himz no like outcasts. Must be gud for tribe,” Shemi said.
“I want to learn now, can you teach me?”
“If the spiritz will it youz learn. Shaman’s Path not be easy. Ogrez be strong so spiritz make ourz path hard. Maybe youz something new. Maybe youz Oni of legendz. But now youz just level one scrub.”
I chuckled. Shemi didn’t seem like one to mince words. I could respect that. “And what is my first task?”
“First is dinner time. Wez need go see what sludge cookz haz made. Follow mez and keep youz head down. Remember brutez and maulerz are respected. Outcastz must prove worth. Gain threshold or tribe no care for youz.”
I shook my head. At least I had gotten my apprenticeship and path to a magic using class. And since it didn’t bind me to anything yet, I still had time to decide. At least until I gained enough XP to reach level five. Of course, that made up my mind, I would save up the XP till then and struggle along as a level one.
Legends of Selmia made that easier than other games I had played. It was always one thousand XP to reach the next level. So, I needed four thousand XP and I could gain a class. This not having to assign my XP till I wanted to almost seemed like a cheat. But I doubted the system would have given me a boon like this without there also being a downside.
Shemi was a good hundred feet down the path to the village by this point and looked back at me. “Hurry up. Spiritz save mez if youz are one of those foolz who iz always staring off at the sky like theyz see something that no one else can see.”