Kaizer woke up to find himself falling into the middle of a forest. Seeing as he had fallen asleep in his bed the night before he was flabbergasted at what was going on. The forest was the wrong color for every type he had ever known as trees weren’t meant to be pink and their leaves blue. He thought he was dreaming and hoped it would end before he hit the ground. This hope was soon dashed as he splashed into a pond. The water was frigid, and he tried to swim to the edge and realized he was sinking so he walked on the bottom until he could get out. Once he was out of the water and finally had a chance to breathe, he noticed a few other oddities. He was naked. His skin was now made of stone, and he was now a woman.
It took a few moments for his or now her brain to process this and she ran to the water’s edge to look at her face. Her face was beautiful but androgynous with its angularity. Her pupils were bright amethysts, and her hair looked like it was made of rubies and emeralds throughout. When she touched her hair, it felt like thin gemstones. Her skin was made of smooth warm stone of a tan color. She sat there staring into unfamiliar eyes until she noticed something pop in front of her face. It appeared to be a window like you would see in a video game.
Status - Unknown. Working on solution.
The screen then vanished. A few seconds later a new screen popped up and Kaizer started reading.
Status - Restored.
Name - Gaia/Kaizer
Race – Earthbound
Age – 15
Rank - Normal
Titles:
Unwanted - Unknown
Class - None
Abilities - Guide
Skills – None
Seeing that Kaizer got up and decided she’d worry about these hallucinations later. She needed to actually look around the surroundings. There was cliff face of thankfully brown rock with a waterfall falling down to the pond that she had landed in with a small creek flowing into the tree-line. The grass around the bank of the pond was more a blue-green color. Everything she saw was like something out of a fever dream. Having realized she was in a clearing she started wondering what she should do when a number of screens appeared.
Title detected.
Bestowing reward for title: Unwanted.
Reward generated.
After the last screen vanished an egg appeared in her hand. It was small, around the size of a fist and felt warm to her touch. Now Kaizer could no longer call the screens hallucinations after what just happened. She decided to try and follow the creek for a landmark. As she was walking Kaizer tried to pull up what she assumed was her status screen again and it did. This was where she noticed the name, Gaia/Kaizer. She knew where Kaizer came from and assumed Gaia was her name now. She wasn’t going to worry about anything else from this screen as there was nothing else to check outside of the title, Unwanted. Thinking about an explanation for that brought up no results so she ignored it.
While looking into other things like where she was brought up with no results, she found a small screen in the bottom corner of her vision with what looked like a map. She thought about making it bigger and it obliged. It showed a massive forest that was blacked out and a small trail of light following the creek to what she assumed was the clearing she had appeared in. She continued walking for a bit longer before she saw a clearing up ahead. She continued on until she noticed the clearing was the same one, she had left.
Guide Quest: Discover the reason for your return to the Pond of Tranquility. 0/1
Gaia looked at the screen and then around the clearing a bit more closely. Everything looked the same but when she looked at the pond, she noticed the water didn’t even have a ripple while the waterfall was gushing into it. She took a closer look and noticed something on the bottom. It looked like some kind of plant. She decided to try and get it. She started walking into the water and walked along the bottom of the pond and realized it was clear like she was above water. She quickly went to the plant and realized it was a head of lettuce. She took it and made her way back out. The lettuce was like everything else in that it was the wrong color. It was like a rainbow grown in the shape of a lettuce head. It was mesmerizing to look at.
Guide Quest: Discover the reason for your return to the Pond of Tranquility. 1/1
Reward: Basic Analysis skill –Allows information to be obtained by focusing on or pushing mana into an object.
She focused on the rainbow lettuce and then the Egg.
Shimmering Lettuce – A head of lettuce grown in the Pond of Tranquility. Contains high concentration of mana.
Egg of the unchosen. Will bind to the first person to touch it. Will hatch within twenty-four hours.
She read the screen but didn’t know what to do with it, so she set it aside. This was when she realized that even after going into the water the egg was still warm like it was producing a small amount of heat itself. She didn’t have time to think about that and went to make some basic clothes. These mainly consisted of large leaves tied tightly to her so they wouldn’t slip. She also made a small bag from leaves and put the lettuce in. She still carried the egg in her hand as she was afraid it would break then started to follow the creek again. When she paid attention to the map, she noticed that the explored section just stopped like she’d turned around.
She paid close attention to the map and made some marks on the trees as she walked. She wondered why she suddenly appeared back in the clearing but couldn’t think of a reason outside of, the rainbow lettuce maybe. After a few hours she found a road. It was a dirt road that looked big enough for cars to travel on.
Seeing this Gaia became excited and quickened her pace. It took her until it got dark to find some evidence of people as she came across a camp on the side of the road. She called out hoping to find someone to help.
Someone jumped up by the camp and came running towards her yelling something in a language she didn’t understand. The person who came running towards her was a large robed bipedal tiger with a massive sword in his hand. Seeing this Gaia was startled and was about to run when the tiger man stopped. He put the sword away and put his hands up in a more neutral gesture. “Who are you and where did you come from?” He said in a growl.
She hesitated before speaking. “I’m Gaia. I came from somewhere in the woods over there. I just woke up there with nothing but this egg. I was hoping to get some clothes or help from someone.”
“Ok. Let me call over a friend who can talk to you and might be able to get you something to wear.” He responded. It seemed he naturally had a growl when he spoke.
He called out to a person named Titania. She was a beautiful woman. She had long black hair tied into a ponytail and had on some kind of dark bodysuit. There were a couple daggers strapped to her legs and a couple in sheathes on her hips. She jogged over, saw the state Gaia was in and whisked her away from the Tiger man.
“Hi. I’m Titania. Let’s get you some clothes and then we can talk.” She stated in a sing-song voice.
Gaia was taken into a tent and was given some clothes. The “clothes” consisted of a robe that was quite large. It draped around her form and was a few feet too long. She put the “bag” with the lettuce in the corner of the tent then went outside.
When Gaia was outside of the tent she saw the entire group for the first time. There was the large Tiger man who was about six and a half feet tall, the woman titania, a muscular man, and a woman with her face in a book. Titania introduced the tiger man as John, the other man as Francois, and the woman as Jess. After standing next to the group Gaia realized she was only about four feet tall as she had to look up at everyone.
“So why were you out here alone and with nothing on you?” John asked.
“I don’t know. I went to sleep in my own bed and the next thing I know is I woke up falling from the sky. Then this egg suddenly appeared in my hand, and I started walking to try and find anything honestly.” Gaia said as she motioned to the egg in her hand.
After that explanation the group went silent. They looked at each other awkwardly and John broke the silence.
“Do you have a title?” He asked.
“Yeah. I also have a race called Earthbound. It appeared on a screen that popped up in front of my face. It said Unwanted. Do you know what they mean?” She responded.
“Well, That’s the first time I’ve heard of that title. But I’m guessing you weren’t an Earthbound before falling. You’re what we call the Lost. The lost are people who were transported here from somewhere else. They sometimes keep their original race but most times it changes.”
“This may sound weird, but does it also change your gender?” She asked pleadingly.
“Never heard of that happening but we don’t know much about the lost. So, I guess that happened to you?” Titania asked.
Gaia nodded.
“Well, sadly there’s nothing we could do to fix that so, welcome to your new life.” They said in unison.
After a few minutes Jess asked. “So, do you know anything about where you are?”
“No. All I know is I have these screens pop up in front of me. I’ve been shown a map, but it is just blacked out, outside of where I’ve already been. It can bring up information on things I focus on like the egg though.” Gaia explained.
“But it only gives me basic info. Like when I see a tree it says tree. The Egg had a name, but I think that’s because it was given as a reward for the title.” She finished after a minute.
They all just looked at Gaia. “Okay, that’s definitely weird. But I don’t know what to say.” Titania said.
“So, why are you guys out here?” Gaia asked after a few moments.
“We’re on our way back to the city from hunting monsters. It’s about a day’s walk down the path.” Francois said in a vaguely Scottish accent.
“Well, it’s getting late. Do you want to stay here with us? We can take you to the city tomorrow if you want as well.” John asked.
“If y’all don’t mind. I’d like to. I think this egg will hatch in the morning too. Are y’all alright with that?” She asked.
“That should be fine. We have room in our tent for you.” Titania responded.
They spent the night and Gaia awoke to the sunrise and the feeling of the egg shaking. She went outside and sat down with the egg in front of her and focused on it.
Egg of the Unchosen.
Bound to Gaia
Hatching in one minute.
Gaia just looked at the egg as it started to crack and wiggle. This went on until a small green head popped out of a small hole. It started to eat the eggshell as it broke out. Once the egg was completely gone there was a small green turtle sitting in front of Gaia. It looked to be small enough for her to hold it in both her hands. A screen suddenly popped up.
Name - ???
Race - Turtle (???)
Rank - Normal
Level - 1
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Title:
Unchosen bond – Bond was unchosen. Unknown effects.
Skills:
Bite – Creature bites an enemy and has a chance to break appendage.
Hide – Creature retreats into shell and heals over time.
Abilities:
Defensive Nature – Resistance is increased at a set rate every level and doubles between ranks at the cost of Strength.
The turtle just looked up at Gaia like he wanted something. So, she named him after noticing there was no name. This Turtle would now be known as Malachite. As she said his name a screen appeared in front of her one more time.
Bond Established.
Assigning entity Gaia the class tamer.
Class established.
Class: Tamer – Class allows for monsters to be tamed. As tamed monsters defeat entities and absorb souls the class holder shares in the absorption.
Requirements met.
Entity must possess the title unwanted
Entity must possess one unchosen bond.
Entity must not have dealt damage.
Bestowing new class.
Class: Unwanted Tamer – Non-combat class. Allows unchosen bonds to be created. Bound monsters' growth is enhanced. Bound monsters can evolve. As bonded monsters defeat entities and absorb souls the class holder shares in the absorption. Tamer’s Guide Ability acquired. Class holder is unable to deal damage.
Bond slots created. Bond slots 1/1. Bond slots increase as the holder increases in power.
Guide Ability modified.
Tamer’s Guide – Creates quests for the class holder to follow. Quests give rewards when completed. Quests are generated based on Tamer and Bound monsters' capabilities.
After reading through the mass of text that appeared after naming Malachite, Gaia was called over for breakfast by Francois. She was given a small bit of bread and cheese with water. She introduced Malachite to everyone, and a screen appeared.
Tamer Quest: Feed Unchosen Bond (Malachite) Shimmering Lettuce 0/1.
Seeing this Gaia pulled the lettuce out from the tent and watched him eat for a bit. It was utterly adorable. She then picked him up and carried him while everyone packed up to leave. As they waited the quest appeared as completed and Malachite shone brightly for a brief second and chirped. It was an extremely soft sound that she would have missed if she hadn’t been watching him as intently as she was. Then a screen appeared.
Tamer Quest: Feed Unchosen Bond (Malachite) Shimmering Lettuce 1/1.
Reward: Unchosen Bond (Malachite) Attacks deal low magic damage and magical resistance increases slightly.
Gaia wasn’t sure what that meant but guessed he would deal some more damage when he bit things and was harder to hurt by magic. Once everyone was ready, they started walking towards the city. As they walked Gaia was given an explanation about the country she was in. They were in a country that was simply known as the Kingdom. It was ruled by a royal family that adopted the strongest person in the country and made them into the successor. The current ruler has been ruling for the last three hundred years as when people collect souls and rank up, their life span increases.
They then explained that their party was part of the Hunter’s League. The League is an organization that helps defend people from monsters and is a middleman for all requests. It is an international organization and is recognized by all governments and protects its members freedom. If anyone wants to join, they can as long as they finish the test which is to defeat a basic monster.
After hearing the final requirement Gaia’s hopes were dashed as she couldn’t defeat a monster and didn’t want to get Malachite killed. She didn’t know what monsters were like as the only experience she had with them were games and movies.
“What are monsters like? I don’t want Malachite to die since I apparently can’t hurt anything with my class. It would require Malachite to bite them until they died.” She asked.
“They come in many varieties but I’ll see if we can find a basic monster and hold them so the little guy can bite them. Basic monsters aren’t much different from normal animals. You need at least some way to defend yourself. If we don’t find anything I’ll see if we can get someone to go help you for the first few hunts.” John responded.
They continued walking for the rest of the day while Titania was scouting around for any threats and basic monsters. She didn’t come back until they saw the city’s gate.
“I finally found a basic monster. It's called a Walking Gorger. They’re pretty weak and can only hit with their leaves or mouth.” Titania said.
“Let’s go then. The little guy should be able to defeat it just fine. We’ll cut off the leaves for this one.” Francois stated.
“Let’s go.” Gaia responded.
The party went into the forest for a bit where they found the Walking Gorger. It was a small plant that was similar to a Venus fly trap but was about two feet tall and had four roots that allowed it to walk. Its mouth had fangs, and its leaves were thin and cut through the surrounding plants like knives. Jess was the one to act and cast some kind of magic that caused a blade of wind to slice through the roots and its leaves. This caused the plant monster to drop.
They then told Gaia to put Malachite in front of it and attack it. She did as she was told but held the monster down so it couldn’t bite Malachite while he slowly bit the monster until it went limp. It took him around fifteen minutes to kill it. It then started to dissolve into a black puddle of mush as a green orb appeared and split into two as it sank into Malachite and Gaia.
When it did a rush of strength surged through her and dissipated just as quickly. She then looked at Malachite as he turned and started towards her. She smiled at him as he appeared to be proud at his triumph. She went over and picked him up while thanking the party for their help. They then made their way back to the road and towards the city. As they were approaching the gate Gaia made a check to see what happened when the soul entered Malachite. The only difference was beside his level which now had a marker of (10%). When she looked at her own level there was the same marker with the same (10%). She assumed that meant they needed to defeat another nine of those kinds of monsters to level up.
The city had a large wall surrounding it with a massive gate. There were two guards standing by the entrance waving people through and checking cards before letting people through. When they arrived at the gate the two guards looked at the party and started waving them in when they stopped Gaia.
“Who is this? Don’t think we’ve seen her before.” One of the guards stated.
“This is Gaia we found her in the woods We’re going to take her to the Hunter’s League to sign up for an ID and everything. We’ll vouch for her.” Titania responded.
“Well, we at least need to verify her record. I’ll bring out the Analyzer.” The other guard said.
After a few minutes the guard brought out a stone slab with a circular crystal in the center. “If you place your hand there it will show if you have a criminal record.” The guard explained.
Gaia hesitated but placed her hand on the crystal. As she did the crystal glowed a bright green and soon writing appeared on the stone around the crystal. She didn’t know what language it was, but she could read what it said.
Name – Gaia
Race – Earthbound
Class – Tamer (Hidden: Unwanted)
Records – None
She stared at the information for a moment before being dismissed by the guards since she didn’t have any criminal record. She wondered why parts were hidden but didn’t have time and didn’t know whether it was safe to ask in a public area.
When Gaia entered the gate, she was shown a city that was made of many different races and was reminiscent of medieval towns. The buildings were made of wood and stone, but some were closer to how modern-day earth would look with blocky architecture. The most notable of those was what looked like a hospital near what looked like a central plaza. There was a large mansion towards the northern end of town and was only noticeable as it was the largest building outside of the hospital.
As the group made their way into the city, they explained everything they could on the walk to the Hunter’s League. The city was called the Boundary as it was the last major city before what people called the Shimmering Forest. There were small villages along the road within the forest, but this was the last major bastion of the Kingdom.
The shimmering forest took up a few hundred miles to the south of the city and was treacherous to travel without a large group of strong hunters. It was created when a portal appeared and started to change the landscape. At first, it was only a small forest about a mile wide but over the years it expanded, and monsters started to appear that weren’t native to the world. No one knows if the portal is still there, but it hasn’t expanded for the last decade. The Kingdom allowed it to expand as it helped create a border with their enemy of the group called the Tribes.
She wondered why she hadn’t come across any monsters. She thought it might have been because she was only a little way into the forest then thought about the pond. It was oddly tranquil and there weren’t any animals or any sounds around it. She couldn’t explain it. She guessed she was just lucky or that it might have been the fact she was only a little way into the forest. It seemed the monsters were sparse at the edge of it.
Her thoughts and the explanation ended when they arrived at the Hunter’s League. It was a small building and looked like a cozy cottage that was built in the middle of a park. It looked very out of place by the central plaza but had a large sign by the door that proclaimed what it was. The group went in, and Gaia swiftly followed to be amazed. The interior was massive. It was around the size of what she would assume the hospital was. There were multiple floors with balconies around a central column of desks with receptionists. The entire place was made out of wood and metal with each floor being a different color.
The first floor was made of stone, the second of bronze, the third of iron, the fourth a purple metal, and the final floor of a green metal. She guessed that might indicate rank and the highest floor was the highest rank. As she was goggling at the view the group brought her to one of the bottom floors receptionists and explained what was going on.
“Ah. Ok. I can help her from here if you want to go turn in your request.” The receptionist responded.
“Thank you. Gaia this receptionist will help you.” John said as the party went to go up a floor.
“Hi. I’m Freya. I’ll be your receptionist. I understand you want to register?” Freya said. She was a small woman with curly blonde hair, long ears and green eyes. She looked to be a perfect example of the elves that she remembered from video games.
“Um. Yeah. I don’t really know much about it. I just know I need an ID and that the League will protect my freedom. Also, that I need to kill a basic monster for that.” Gaia responded.
“The Hunter’s League is an organization that helps protect people from monsters. All requests for monster subjugation must go through the League, but there are also other requests from escort quests to help people traverse more dangerous areas to simple collection quests. We can create a basic ID card for you if don’t want to join the league proper but there is a fee to just have a basic ID made. The price is waived if you join the League proper, however.” Freya explained.
“I think I’ll join properly. Does that mean I have to take the test?” Gaia asked.
“Yes. We will provide an examiner who will oversee your test. We have a few basic monsters that are kept in the test site for this reason. I can take you there now if you like.” She said.
“If you don’t mind, but will there be a problem if I can’t hurt anything? I have this little guy with me to be able to deal damage.” Gaia said while motioning to Malachite.
A few moments passed before she responded. “There shouldn’t be a problem, but we’ve never had someone not be able to hurt anything. I’ll leave it up to the examiner to decide.” She finished.
She took them to the back of the building and down a long set of stairs. When they got to the bottom she motioned them forward into a large room. It appeared to be made of grey stone with a small arena looking pit in the middle. When Gaia went inside, she was motioned to a woman in light armor standing by the edge of the pit.
“Is this a new prospective member?” The woman asked.
“Yes, she is. This is Gaia. Gaia, this is Harley. She will be your examiner.” Freya explained.
“Alright, Gaia. Let’s get you in the pit and I’ll toss a basic monster in there for you.” Harley said.
She followed Harley’s instructions and hopped into the pit. It was about five feet deep with some metal rungs to allow people to climb in and out. Otherwise, it was just a pit made of stone. About a minute later a small fur ball dropped into the pit.
“This is what we call a Prickly Hare. They are quick but weak. Show me what you got.” Harley said.
It was just a rabbit with a spike on each of its appendages and a small horn on its head. When it hit the ground, it jumped straight at Gaia. She barely managed to dodge and tried grabbing it before it could get away, but she was too slow. This went on for a few minutes before she tried to just take the hit from the rabbit to catch it. It jumped straight at her chest again and she just took the hit. It didn’t even hurt, and she was able to catch it between her hands. She quickly moved it down so Malachite could bite it. After about ten more minutes it was finally dead, and a grey orb rose and split between Gaia and Malachite once again.
All in all, the fight lasted about fifteen minutes, but the examiner seemed to be annoyed that it took that long. She just looked between Gaia and Malachite with a questioning look.
“I can’t deal any damage to anything, so I need this little guy to actually hurt things.” Gaia explained.
“What? You can’t hurt anything, and you want to be a hunter?” Harley exclaimed.
“Am I not allowed to?” She asked.
“No, you can but I’ll have to restrict what requests you can take until you’re able to kill one of these basic monsters in at most a minute.” Harley explained.
“I think that will be fine. I don’t want Malachite or myself to get hurt anyway. I’ll gladly take any help I can get.” Gaia said.
“Alright fine. It looks like you’re able to level up with that turtle anyway. It seems like it will take a few levels before you’re able to kill these things well anyway. What level are you by the way?” She asked.
“Um we’re both level one?” Gaia said.
Harley and Freya just looked at each other with a look of exasperation. “Ok. We’re going to recommend you to a training camp for new hunters. It’ll last a few months but should teach you everything you should know and even let you fight with supervision. It is literally made to help people who have low levels to get to the starting line. Most people don’t become hunters until they’re stone rank. At that point you should be able to deal with basic monsters easily.” They explained.
“I think that should be fine, but I don’t have any money for that.” She responded.
“Its free, but they’ll take a little bit out of your rewards until its paid off once you’re out. Most people have help leveling up, by their family to at least level five because by then they can deal with basic monsters mostly by themselves. Stone rank is the base for a hunter as they tend to have to deal with multiple monsters.” Harley explained.
“I’ll put in for your admittance to the camp now and they’ll come get you tomorrow morning. You can stay in one of the Leagues free rooms for the night.” She finished as she waved them away.
Freya walked Gaia back up to the main room where she made her Hunter Badge. This required a small bit of blood which allowed it to bind to the users spirit. The spirit was how most people were identified in this world as it was hard to change and was unique to each person. Gaia’s badge read as follows.
Name – Gaia
Race – Earthbound Lost
Titles: Hidden
Class – Tamer (Hidden: Unwanted)
Rank – Normal
Level - 1 (20%)
The card was also mostly black and tinged green throughout, which apparently coincided with her spirit. She was told the spirit can change when placed under enough stress, but it was rare, and most of the time it stayed the same.
The receptionist also explained about levels and ranks. A person's level increased as they killed monsters and absorbed souls. A person's rank was divided between five ranks. There was Stone, Bronze Iron, Adamantine, and finally Orichalcum. As a person increased in rank their bodies slowly became closer to their ideal form. This required the souls that a person absorbed to be consumed by their spirit which made changes to their body. This also caused peoples lifespan to increase as their rank increased. The ruler of the kingdom was Adamantine rank.
A persons level just indicated how far into a rank they were. From normal rank to stone rank was ten levels. There were other conditions, but they weren’t required until attempting to rank up into bronze rank. From stone to bronze was one hundred levels, from bronze to iron was two hundred and rose by one hundred for each rank. Every time you ranked up your level reset to one as the souls that were collect were consumed. In order to rank up one had to reach the level limit for that rank.
For classes, a normal rank person could obtain their class, but most didn’t until stone rank as it was given due to specific circumstances. For example, someone who helped treat wounds could obtain the class healer or someone who worked with wood could get the carpenter class when they ranked up into stone.
After the explanation Freya guided Gaia to a small room on the first floor which she was told was her free room for the night. She was also told that she could get some food from the tavern counter in the back of the building for dinner and that someone would be there to get her at dawn the next morning.
Gaia thanked the receptionist and went to get some food from the tavern. She was handed a bowl with some kind of meat stew; some bread, water and a small salad for Malachite. She sat at a table and ate while watching Malachite slowly enjoy his small salad. A few other people seemed to enjoy watching Malachite eat as she caught a few stares and smiles looking towards him.
After they were done, she took the dishes to the counter and thanked the tavern worker before going to her room. She found a small bathroom with a shower and cleaned herself. Then put some water in the small basin and let Malachite swim for a bit. She made her way to bed after that and swiftly fell asleep with Malachite huddled against her head.