He opened his eyes, and instead of being greeted by the artificial light, he saw a canvas roof above him. He was laying down on a thin blanket, his head propped up by a stiff pillow, quickly realizing he wasn't in a town, but a camp. Noises of metal hitting against rocks, conversations murmuring in the background, a small box appeared in the upper right of his vision.

** Scenario started. You have taken the place of a young Caravanner to learn the essential skills to survive in the class. Be aware, you are now in a young childs body, you may expierence some disorentation while you adjust to being in a smaller frame. Please follow the instructions to navigate through your tasks. **

The window closed, leaving Tyler staring straight ahead, processing the statement. He read on forums where people were shifted into a different body, one person reported that they had to operate as a spider to infiltrate a Spider Nest and set up traps while not being discovered. Nobody in the default tutorial had this, they always started off as a homeless person in a city, and they build up enough gold to buy their beginner set, while learning how to navigate their new options in the Companion UI, as well with basic functions for communication. Before he could get any further into his thoughts, his H-Pad on his wrist vibrated, and he brought it up to his face at eye level. A message sat waiting for him;

** Navigate to the camp fire. **

His active quest window, he had already organized his UI weeks ago. It floated just beside a small circle that was mostly grayed out, except a small dot in the middle, and the outline of a bed. He stood up, he looked across the tent, seeing a mat rolled up, he squeezed his eyes triggering his investigate prompt. A window appeared over the mats;

** Legendary Bed Roll **

His first scan ended up being a legendary item, he couldn't believe it. A chime went off

** Hidden Achievement Unlocked: Luck of the Scan. Your first scan is a legendary item, this is an opportunity for everybody, but you are the first to find a legendary item. Since you are so lucky, let's make you feel like you have won the lottery." Gold received - 100,000 **

In all his time scouring the Tower boards, he never heard anything about how your first scan could have such an impact. The longer he thought about it, the more it made sense that this wasn't something talked about. Everybody, from the age of 10 knew how the scan worked, and it was just so natural to scan the first thing you saw when you dove in for the first time. Having a window pop up in your vision just confirmed that you had been digitalized.

One hundred thousand gold was a very welcome surprise. While he had some gold that he exchanged from his Tower Credits, but with the 1:1 exchange, he had a little over seven thousand Gold to work with. He shook his head free of his gold windfall, his quest window pulsed, telling him to find the camp fire. He rolled up his bed, investigating it;

"Worn Bed Roll"

Pursing his lips, he would have had the common opening if he scanned his bedroll first. No achievement, just an item being crossed off his hidden tutorial checklist that he successfully complete. The AI didn't have a rigid checklist of things a person had to do, but it sculpted the tutorial in a way to require an individual to use all the basics. He lifted the door of the tent and stepped outside, he quickly located a campfire a few steps away.

"Oh-Ho!!! Someone has finally realized he has to wake up to learn how to be a Caravanner." A loud gruff voice came from a large back looming over the fire. Tyler stopped, looking left and right, Tyler couldn't see anybody else near him. "Yes, you young man, you need to learn how to Caravan before you can actually Travel."

Tyler scratched the back of his head, quickly finding himself forgetting that he had just been digitized, and accepting the environment around him. "I guess that makes sense." His voice came out childish, like he was 8 or 9 years old. "Where should I start?"

"Eager are we!!" The voice boomed. "We start with breakfast." the metal clanging turning out to be a cook pan sitting on a cook rock. Two sausages laid in the pan beside a heap of potatoes, Tyler getting lost in the smell. The large man put one sausage and a pile of potatoes on a plate and handed it to Tyler. "This should help you with this morning, the next few days are going to be hard, you have lots to learn."

Tyler stopped mid bite into the sausage, did he hear the man correctly. "Did you say few days?" The large man smiled and nodded. Tyler couldn't believe it, the regular tutorial usually ran for a few hours, then the tutorial advanced to put the individual to their current age. If his guide through the Tutorial said a few days, how could he get the store front his team wanted. Him being in the tutorial meant he couldn't send or receive messages.

"Now now, relax. You have a lot to learn, you have to learn to care for your horse, your cart, how to make camp." The man stopped, looked at Tyler, the happy look dropping from his face. "How to properly take care of your bed roll."

While Tyler didn't actually fail to take care of the bed roll, he understood the situation he was in. "I'm sorry, I didn't take my responsibilities seriously up until now." He lowered his face to the ground, hoping this would be enough to earn a bonus from the large man.

The man looked down at Tyler, then broke into a wide smile. "Good, well if you do well in the next few days, maybe I'll restore your bed roll back to it's original condition." The man ate the sausage in one bite, then shoved the potatoes into his mouth. "Well, let's get going." He stood up, took the plate from Tyler's hand, quickly eating what was on the plate, putting both plates into a small bag on his side.

"Go take the tent down." The man pointed at the canvas tent. "I'll make sure you don't do anything wrong."

Tyler walked towards the tent crestfallen realizing he missed breakfast, the first item appeared on his primary action bar. "Dismantle Camp - shows the steps for taking down your camp". He thought about activating it, then some green lines appeared around the tent, numbered for taking it down. He diligently went through the steps, not rushing to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. After following the steps to fold the tent supports into the canvas, he loaded the tent into the back of the cart.

The man nodded, walked over and handed Tyler a large piece of beef jerky. He looked down and frowned at the jerky, those potatoes smelled incredible. Biting into the jerky, flavor slammed into him, delivering a buff "Sublime Beef Jerky. - The rarest of beef jerky, served on long distance travel for Royalty. Increase speed +5".

Tyler quickly finished off the serving of jerky, seeing the buff icon settled just above the quest window. Who was this giant of a man? He travels with legendary bed rolls, and offers food normally reserved for Royal level players?

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"The horses, get them ready and linked to the cart ready for travel. Make sure you brush them well, you never know when you will have to get them ready in a rush. If you take care of your animal, your animal will remember it."

Two new buttons appeared on his bar. "Brush Animal - You heard the man, take care of your animal and it will take care of you" "Prepare for departure - Get your horse ready for travel (turns off parked abilities)". He took note of 'parked abilities", so he would have skills that would only be available when 'parked', whatever that meant.

He approached the two large horses, both completely black. He instantly realized the beauty of the animals in front of him, never seeing one as he did now. In his research about the animals, he looked at them in 3D, but standing front of them now was something completely different. One pawed at the ground, picking up on Tyler's nervousness, shaking him from his awe.

"Talk to them boy, let them know you are there and what you sound like. Let them get used to the idea of you being so close to them. When you feel ready, reach out and confirm to them that you want to be a friend. If you time it right, they accept you, if you are wrong, they will let you know." The man crossed his arms, a little worry crossing his face.

He looked at the horses, taking a breath to calm himself. This was the tutorial, this should be easy. He looked at his bar, and noticed a new button appeared on it. "Introduction - Begins the introduction to a new working animal". He activated the ability, and a small icon appeared over the head each horse. Both showed red, clear to Tyler that they were not ready to accept him.

He spoke to the horses. It probably didn't matter what he said, but he decided to talk to the horses. "I'm sorry guys, I'm not really sure what I'm doing here. I'm going to do what I can to make you comfortable with me. You two are absolutely beautiful, I think master here is lucky to have the both of you." The two horses almost nodded in unison when he said that, the icon over their heads turning yellow. "I wonder if I'll ever be able to partner up with one as beautiful as you two. One can only dream of it, at least for now I'll be happy with being this close to the two of you."

The two horses visibly relaxed as the icon over their heads turned green. He reached out and put one hand on each of their neck. A chime played in his ear "Congratulations, you have tamed your first working animal. Working animals will be willing to listen to orders, this leads to potential partnership with the animal."

"Quick learner aren't you boy. Well, get them mounted up and hitched to the cart, let's see what you have learned up until now." The man smiled at Tyler, clearly impressed with the fact Tyler was successful on his first try. He placed two bundles on the ground, one beside each horse.

Tyler activated Brush, following through the brushes shown on each horse, using the brush the large man provided. After successfully completing Brush on each horse, he activated prepare for departure. He thanked the fact that each skill walked him through the steps needed for the task ahead of him. Seeing all the green dots and arrows on the equipment on the ground and on the horses, he would not have had a hope without the guide. Following the steps, he had the horses mounted up and ready to depart, the large man was beaming with pride.

"Well boy, it seems like you watching me all these months have shown you deserve to be a Caravanner. We will see how you do on the cart today, then how you set up camp. If all goes the same as today, you will be ready to go out on your own as a caravanner." The man climbed up on the cart and looked down at Tyler. "Now hop on up and let's get going."

As Tyler climbed up on the cart, he thought on how the man kept saying that he was going to be a Caravanner. Didn't Prime AI tell him that he was going to be a Traveling Shop Keeper? It has to be his second class, the one that would pair up with his original decision of being a Shop Keeper.

He took his seat beside the large man, and the large man brought the cart to a slow walk, allowing the horses to warm up slowly. "All right boy, what do I call you from now on? We have been fine up until now with no names, but you have proven you can work, so it's time for a name."

Confirm Digitized Name:

A keyboard appeared, under the window that popped up in the middle of his field of view. He typed in "Pylioth" and confirmed.

"You can call me Moore," The man looked down Tyler once again, "Boy." The man looked forward again, his eyes constantly scanning the area around them.

As Tyler sighed in disappointment, the man went on. "Today you will learn about driving the wagon, then tomorrow you will drive the cart. You have to be able to set up camp before you are allowed to drive the wagon, that is the rule of the wagon."

The day passed with the Moore covered the basic instructions of directing the horse. He would stop occasionally to point out the parts of the cart, and how to repair them on the road. He went on to go over other items, unlocking the rest of his UI, the day ending with the clock opening just under his minimap.

After Moore brought the cart to a stop, Tyler dismounted, and pulled the tent out of the back of the cart. "All right boy, show me you can put up the tent, then you will be ready for the final task."

Tyler saw the new skill appear on his primary bar, and he quickly moved it to one of his auxiliary bars. "Create Camp - creates a fire pit and tent". He followed the steps to set up the camp, he learned his lesson today when he had to repair one of the wheels of the cart, trying to rush through the steps. Moore laughed at him, and said that it's better to take time, do the job right, than have to do the job twice due to carelessness.

With the tent set up, Moore handed Tyler a bed kit with a large smile, the man seemed to be happy at almost all times. "I fixed up your roll a bit, it's not original condition, but it's better than what you had last night. You will learn over time how to repair it further, but for now you will at least be able to maintain it's condition."

** Ability unlocked: Beginner Bedroll Repair **

Allows the user to maintain a Bedroll at Used rarity.

** Knowledge added: Camping **

After learning the basics, camping has been added to the Knowledge library. Knowledge library currently unavailable until Traveling Shop Keeper class has been selected.

There it was, officially in a class skill announcement, his attachment to being a Traveling Shop Keeper. Not understanding how Knowledge could be a skill, as the description came across as a reference library, which was something everybody had installed in their companion UI addon folder. So the first glimpse of his future class, was a skill that was inferior to the companion UI.

As Tyler unrolled his Bedroll, he focused on his latest revelation. He was dealing with 3 of the ruling AI's, they said that there was a long road ahead of him, and he needed a special class to make it. This special class which first skill was a rudimentary encyclopedia, which he had to build himself. He could interact with his companion AI, and access the Tower database, providing the companion UI the latest information, giving Tyler the accumulated knowledge of his Tower to digest. If he was supposed to take part of some plan that Prime AI spoke to him directly, why was it looking like his skill seemed like a downgrade.

"Come out here boy, you didn't get the fire going properly. Looks like you didn't add enough branches to carry the flame." Tyler exited the tent, and as he approached the fire, he heard a low rumble from the East. After a quick glance to the East, his eyes landed on Moore, and the serious look on the large mans face, Tyler knew something was wrong. "Well, it looks like you won't have to worry about those branches tonight. We're heading to bed now, in the morning, don't wait for me, take the tent down right away, I'll mount the horses." He stood and pointed at the tent, making it clear that he wanted Tyler in first.

As Tyler looked over his shoulder, he saw Moore standing in the middle of the camp, staring to the east. Tyler knew that looking like a child right now, Moore wouldn't tell him what was going on, and actively try to shield him from any danger. Tyler passed through the tent flaps, gently closing the flap behind him, instead of folding them to seal the flap, he stopped halfway through, leaving a small gap at the bottom of the door.

Tyler peered through the gap, quickly locating Moore, who hadn't moved from his original spot. Then without any warning, Moore began to push at the air, while Tyler couldn't see the window, it was obvious Moore was interacting with his companion UI. After a few pokes at the air, Moore reached into his bag, and reflecting the moons light, gold began to fall from Moore large hand. After a short stream of gold coins fell to the ground, but disappearing before actually hitting the ground, the air shimmered, then the surroundings just beyond the fire became hazy to the eye. Moore nodded, then turned to walk towards the tent.