Signing my initials onto the electronic pad, the contractor was satisfied. Watching him leave, my attention was returned to the space technology installed in my doorframe.
“You said he was fixing the screen, not replacing it, what the hell am I going to tell my landlord?”
This isn’t conspicuous at all, my apartment had effectively become a vault. Reinforced plating as well as a keypad, just tell the world I’m worth robbing, please.
“Eh, the company likes to protect its assets,” shrugged Autumn, “besides, Winter already dealt with the owner.”
Looking towards Winter, she confirmed with a nod as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“We bought the building.”
I’m sorry, what?
I think my brows might have reached my chin, Autumn’s plastered smile only vouching for the insanity entering my ears. I would expect the first question asked here by most to be ‘how?’, though my acceptance for bullshit had been stretched in these past 24 hours.
“Do I… still have to pay rent?”
“Rental obligations will remain as they are, check your emails for the new account information.”
The noose only tightens it seems, my mail app confirming the changeover—I guess I am paying for the egg after all, no such thing as a free lunch.
My resignation aside, this looked to be the end of our little slumber party. Thanking them, more out of obligation than understanding, they left without making a scene; a stone-faced nod from one, the other offering a wink and a two-finger salute.
Closing the steel barricade behind me, I slumped against the wall, my mental exhaustion finally getting some breathing room. Taking in the silence for a minute, I ended the break knowing my preparation hadn’t finished. It was a little after 10, with plenty of time to eat, drink, smoke, and use the bathroom before my session. Sleep wasn’t even on my mind, couldn’t I do that in the pod? My eyes are closed the entire time, no?
Back in my skinsuit, munching on a ham and cheese toastie, I tuned in to a video someone had taken from within their pod. Apparently you could record similarly to Rogue Tale, using inbuilt tools to summon an orb camera. Sadly, my French was lacking, and the post was fresh without subtitles. Even so, she had successfully captured me in her wonder.
Her world was one with nature, a gigantic forest that reached for the stars. Lining connected branches were platforms and buildings, a spiralling and zig-zagging amalgamation that led from earth to sky. It didn’t really matter that I couldn’t understand what she was saying, her excitement mirrored my own, the clock didn’t even know what hit it.
With 5 minutes to launch, I was at my egg, standing clear as the entry opened; this would hopefully give me a short warm-up period to readjust to my height difference. Easing into the padded mould, my brief panic wondering how to close the door alone was soothed, the machine closed automatically once I had all limbs secured. As the mask descended, I closed my eyes while thinking hard about a landing point that wouldn’t get me soaked.
***
The faint hum of rainfall roused me, Operation Couch had gone to plan, though the surroundings were still as war-torn as I remembered them. My clothes were the same, yet fit a little better than before, similar lengths but no longer stretched. With no real desire to trek the monsoon, as unappealing as my current environment was, I decided to stay indoors until the release.
Finding a broom in the hall cupboard, my attempts to clear the room were denied; the changes would remain for a few minutes before suddenly reverting to their original messy state. More testing is needed I guess, making tangible changes here must require some other kind of understanding. Slumping back onto the couch, I went through the system options seeking anything of note.
After some fiddling, I was proud to have a HUD denoting my health, stamina, and mana. It was jarring to have the bars constantly in my view, eventually, I settled with having them rest below the centre of my vision. A short glance downwards and the semi-transparent bars would become opaque, number values easily readable above them. I considered stamina to be the bar I would look at the most, even as a mage, and so the order became red, green, then blue.
Other than adding the clock display in the top right, I refrained from going overboard, finding congested displays unappealing. There were timers and alarms available, but the real winner was the privacy section. As I had guessed, most of the settings were defaulted to ‘public’, it only took moments to disable all that crap—friends only becoming the de facto majority.
Reaching the camera function, I played a little to get a feel for it. Recording my adventures would be nice, though I wondered how limited storage would be, hours upon hours of footage may not be an option.
If there was ever a time to make a channel, it would be now.
The orb was puzzling, I couldn’t even see it, but I could tell where it was. Reaching for the space it occupied only yielded the air that slipped through my fingers. As I reviewed the footage, I confirmed my hand phasing through it, no outside interference should affect it as part of the system.
*Ding*
Synchronising…
Stand by for assimilation.
Even with the warning, the lack of a countdown timer caught me off guard. One moment I’m sitting and the next I’m falling backwards, a blink changing the landscape to that of greenery. Lush grass tickles at my skin, which no longer is shielded by my jacket, instead my coverings were more suited to Amazonian taste. Not a fan of the meagre fur wraps, I think I had found my first objective.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The forest was serene, chirps from birds and insects being the only hiccups to the calm. Most of the trees looked similar to oaks, with thick trunks and jagged branches forming rounded domes, however some sported leaves of blue and purple among the greens. Sitting up, I realised it wasn’t the time to be daydreaming, as rich as the surroundings were. Remembering to toggle the orb camera, I prepared to begin my journey.
Quickly flipping through the status and equipment screens, it seems like this is all I get. No starter weapon, no bag, no clue where I am.
Oh, and I know 0 Wild spells, how lovely.
My remaining active skill, [Aspect of Nemesis], wasn’t a damaging skill—my options that are currently available from it anyway. From what I read, it was a skill that grew as you performed tasks for your patron; right now I only had the single option of [Measure] nestled within my forearm’s constellation, but that list could expand in the future.
On the passive end, [Blood of the Kishin] was simple, it doubled health regeneration, as well as granted the ability to see spirits. The cases for the other two were not so clear-cut. The blessing at least gave me a sentence, as cryptic as it was, while clicking on the question-marked skill only resulted in a description of, you guessed it, more question marks.
[ Divine Blessing of Nemesis ] (Mythic)
Always ensures the odds are evened.
Yep, that tells me a whole lot of nothing, except that I can’t turn it off… like every other passive skill.
Quashing the idea of punching trees, I got up to find an upgrade to my bare fists, the prime candidates looking like stray rocks or large sticks. Amid my search, I couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of an almost 7ft tall woman being worried about her safety, I would probably appear as more of a monster than whatever I ran into. I doubted that the devs would drop us in unfair starting locations, but you could never be too careful.
“Inventory. Bag. Gear. Storage. Items…”
No inventory system, pain. No pockets either…
Discarding the rocks in my hands, I set my sights a little higher. Disappointed by the lack of solid wood on the ground, I climbed a nearby trunk pursuing its wilted branches, although I may have been able to reach them if I had just jumped. Hanging like a monkey from both hands, I used my body weight to bend the wood. Leaves scattered as the tree rocked in sync with my pull-ups until eventually, the branch could take no more.
*snap*
*thud*
Ow.
Losing 3 HP to a tree, and gravity, I claimed ownership of the oversized stick. A few bicep-straining snaps later, surprisingly easier than I expected, and I was left with a relatively straight makeshift club. Chipping away at the few unwanted appendages with a stone, I decided that it would have to do, daylight was burning.
In accordance with my expectations, Woodscalibur did not register as equipment, yet that hardly dampened my newfound sense of security—I certainly wouldn’t want to get bonked by this thing. Hardly 15 minutes in and I was already absorbed, the melancholy of my islands had me blinded by a haze, unable to appreciate the true marvel gifted by this technology.
I breathed, and the world breathed back.
I could even taste the difference in the air, it screamed life, much more so than the cities of the real world. Maybe this is how off-the-grid people feel, pure freedom as their chains fade along with their material desires. Fitting that the game that had given me fresh purpose at my lowest point was now also giving me a fresh outlook on living in its evolved state. The amazement from the leap in tech wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“Map. Minimap. Location… Area?”
Also duds, I suppose I just keep walking until I hit a landmark or a road.
Half an hour passed rather uneventfully, and it was beginning to dawn on me how bloody big this forest was. Risking another beating, I lumbered up the nearest tree to get a better viewpoint, leaving behind my weapon. Poking my head out the top of the leaves, while clinging for dear life, I scanned my surroundings.
The direction I came from thankfully had the highest concentration of trees, but the road ahead hardly fared better. To my distant west was a mountain range, yet they paled in comparison to what I can only assume was an enormous tower or tree. Beyond the mountains, from the horizon to the clouds, the imposing structure—or force of nature—would serve as an adequate compass.
Heading east became my new goal, seeing as it had the sparsest amount of shrubbery. The sooner I got out of this forest, the better, though that urgency may fluctuate depending on how strong its inhabitants are, I was still due for my first encounter. The trek down took at least twice as long as getting up, each creak reminding me that I wasn’t a skinny rake anymore. Retrieving my club and slinging it over one shoulder, I set off on rubbered legs.
Never painting itself as anything but tranquil, the forest’s serenity was slowly having the opposite effect. A seeping tension that permeated like an invisible fog. Where were the critters? The monsters? Even if the world had been upscaled, this didn’t make sense, I should have run into something by now.
When did the birds stop chirping?
Immediately checking my flank first, nothing but the silent green, I swept my sides before continuing onwards. Eerie, or perhaps I’m just paranoid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. Picking up the pace, I broke into a brisk jog, my lengthy strides covered exceptional distances without being overly strenuous. Peeking at my stamina, the green bar deteriorating steadily, I determined that I’d be able to keep this speed for a while.
The wind whisked by my ears, giving the impression of hushed whispers shared between the trees. Bouncing between the groves, investigating each for their stares, I realised that I wasn’t getting any further from the looming anxiety. My body was burning, yeah I haven’t done cardio in years, but my smoker lungs have no power here.
It’s… so… fucking… hot though.
I might be losing it, the air was shimmering, blurred sprinkles of glitter dancing to the breeze.
*ba-dump... ba-dump...*
Finally breaking through the onslaught, I stumbled into a clearing no larger than a football field, the source of my dread waiting patiently on a throne of vines. Slit eyes of emerald, hidden behind a hooked porcelain mask, were crowned by an elongated horn.
“A lone child wanders into my territory, whatever shall I do… when one reeks such a stench of divinity.”
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Bonus.
https://i.imgur.com/PCICzyV.png [https://i.imgur.com/PCICzyV.png]