" So Mr. Denvers , you said your skin tingles as well as fatigue that settles on your body mostly after you arrive at home and your chest area tightens , is that correct? " The white dressed old man in-front of a mahogany desk asked.

As Daniel Denvers had no intention to even speak at the moment , caused by the increasing tingling sensation that came with the problems the doctor just addressed returned full force as usual , he simply bobbed his head up and down once.

" I see , i see. Well you have alleviated blood pressure among many other factors that lead to the same answer. " The doctor continued his ' diagnosis'.

For some reason or another Daniel hated all doctors offices. Maybe it was the smell of disinfectant. Even thoughts of the cold devices touching his bare skin over and over were a cause. Truly though and Daniel knew this as well , it was this moment of pause EVERY doctor used , to recollect themselves to deliver the bad news.

" You have anger issues. " The doctor flat out told him after this short pause that felt like ages.

The tingling sensation that came with another wave of displeasure washed over him as he grinded the fleshy part of the inside of his cheek between his teeth to overcome to moment as many times before.

" How did you conclude that , doc? Maybe because i threw a 5 kg hammer directly at my boss? Or even though nobody could suspect , the 3 inch chain pliers afterwards as he laughed that i missed , which coincidentally knocked him out? " Daniel replied with a usual outbreak of sarcasm.

As Daniel looked into the doctors eyes he saw a moment of realization in them.

" Ah , no i wasn't referring to those. But coincidentally you have forgotten to mention those among the other or so 20 things you have already listed. "

Daniel just silently rolled his eyes , as he was already eyeing the heavy glass penholder which was aligned directly in-front of his face. As the doctor saw this motion he immediately grabbed it and shoved it towards him , to get it out of Daniels reach.

" So , doc , what kind of medicine will i get? Anger surpressor [surpriser] or maybe because you are feeling eternally good today , some weed so i can tone it down a bit? "

A shot spurt of laughter was audible in the room before the doctor coughed to regain his composure.

" Mr. Denvers , this isn't the 21st century anymore we don't hope that drugging someone up will help him overcome his problems. No instead i have a proposition to make. " A short rustling of paper emanated from the mahogany desk and soon a stack of white paper appeared in the corner of Daniels eyes.

As the doc had no intention of saying another word , Daniel grunted and picked up the stack to flip through it. His facial features at first screamed out ' WHAT? ' then they changed to ' are you serious? ' then to ' what the hell? ' .

The doctor carefully watched his expressions and is it remained on the definitely pissed of version of ' what the hell? ' he moved the heavy glass pen holder further away from his patient.

Soon Daniel finished smacked the paper back onto the table and the second phenomenon of his ' problems' occurred. His immense headache turned his vision partially white as the anger coursed through his veins.

" You want me to be a lab-rat for your scientifically half-assed project? To prove to your colleges that you are right and they are wrong? " Daniel asked in disbelief.

Another one of those horrible pauses ensued while the doctor breathed in a regular , long and deep fashion , while Daniels pulse and breathing was ragged as if he had just ran a marathon.

" Yes? " The doctor replied in a meek tone.

With a inner sadistic grin this time Daniel ensured the pause , but soon the headache intensified as he was angry at himself for doing the same thing those quack general health doctors used as mean to alleviate their boredom.

" Count me in. " immediately Daniels breathing , pulse and the spring loaded posture he held , which he himself had not known he had , relaxed completely.

" Ha , it already works Doctor. " Daniel said as he watched his whole body relaxing for the first time in years.

The doctor laughed , visiably strained , at this half-assed joke.

" Well , let me be the first to welcome you to the Virtual world of Dire Age then , Mr. Denvers. "

.....................................

From there on out everything went extremely fast. 1 month of sick-leave was ushered and given to his bosses secretary , as his boss refused to meet him at the moment. Daniel knew this would put a dent in their relationship but the doctor could testify it was a illness as such Daniel even though his consciousness told him otherwise threw the last hammer , or so to speak.

He was relaxed , well as much as he could be when he was bored , sitting on the couch in his 2 bedroom apartment and watching TV. Some old drama , which immedialty brought his veins to almost pop out of his skull as he got immersed in the story.

Just hours after the doctors appointment the bell rang through his house and immediately a blue tinged screen appeared directly in-front of his eyes.

" A pleasant day , Mr. Denvers. We are here on commission to install the VR pod. " A man in a blue workers suite replied from that screen.

Daniel swiped away the annoying window and a clicking sound was audible from his front door. It had opened. The newest model of intercom technology reacted to thought patterns as he wiped it away and unlocked the door remotely.

Imagine having to physically walk to the door just to unlock it , ha! Such peril the people before this brilliant technology was invented had. To Daniel this invention was common place , like the toaster or direct deatomization and reconstruction device or short teleporters , so he wasted no thought on it.

" We will be done shortly , Sir. " The same blue suited man said as another man was hovering the pod on a floating device through the living room and setting it up close to the main cluster of connections for all the handy tools of the house.

At first Daniel simply watched them doing their work but soon he simply stood up and walked to the kitchen. The kitchen as in the Cluster of devices that reproduced anything previously inputted , that took up a 50 by 50 cm space on the wall in the living room.

He pressed a few buttons and with a whizzing sound 3 cups with saucers underneath were produced. A bitter aroma wafted through the room as the freshly procured coffees , attached with tiny 100% recyclable plastic containers filled with milk and sugar where arranged on the saucers.

Both of the workers noses perked at the smell , every blue suited man couldn't resist. Daniel knew this because he had the same weakness.

" Thank you , Sir. " The more prominent of the 2 replied and took a good whiff of the black liquid.

Even though it was freshly brewed and scorching hot all three men discarded any notion of the tiny sugar and milk containers and downed the liquid in one big gulp. Searing pain surely assaulted all of their senses , as the liquid almost as hot as liquid magma scorched its way down their food gullet , but none showed them.

Nonetheless Daniel seemed even more relaxed now then he had before , considering his circumstances. He retrieved both pieces of tableware and placed them in the decomposing device , or as we would call it the garbage shredder.

Just a few seconds later the man gave Daniel a piece of paper , which he pressed his thumb against to sign it and they left.

All alone with a brand new piece of equipment he had never used before Daniel eyed the instructions carefully and picked them up. As anyone should do before using a device that separates the signals in the cerebral cortex of your spine from the rest of your body and what is even worse sends signals to your own brain.

After finishing the first page immediately Daniel snapped a bolt and tore the 100 pages thick manual right down the middle and threw each half into opposite ends of the spacious living room.

Eraditcal breathing filled the room , but was interrupted by the whizzing sound of bots that cleaned up the mess immediately.

' Damn those Machines! ' Daniel seethed.

Discarding any past feelings of cautiousness he examined the pod. Weirdly it was oval , or egged shaped at best , and the creamy color only intensified that image. The inside were cushioned with soft velvet like padding.

There was no action of opening or closing any hatch , as the pod itself had a brain reading device that worked in closer proximity that read intentions to use it , as such the egg shaped soon had a human sized ' hole ' open in the middle.

No hinges , no sliding or any other form of opening it simply , suddenly , had a hole inside of it as if it always had been there from the start. As expected , as Daniel climbed into it he noticed the viscous resistance only the body adjusting gel could hold underneath the velvet cushioning.

Just as the device had opened it also closed in the split of a second , that made Daniel question himself if it shouldn't always be like this , the hatch disappeared. No feeling of weightlessness assaulted him or a bright light.

Instead just as he blinked repeatedly as new stimuli assaulted his nerves he found himself inside of a Light yellow colored room. Even though Daniel believed the room had corners he couldn't say for sure as the seemed distant , so very distant.

" Welcome to the Dire Age , Mr. Denvers. How may I create your new character today? " A definitely feminine voice resounded in the room.

The voice came from everywhere and no where at the same time as it echoed of the walls that suddenly appeared every close.

" Uhm , Uh... I have never really played any games before , so i don't know? " Daniel told the voice honestly.

" Hmm , then i have 2 possible solutions to this problem. Either i can tell you all the tiny details you will have to know about this game , which is very time consumig ..." The voice replied but was cut off mid-way.

" Sorry , sorry. But i choose option 2 if it isn't time consuming , intensively boring and most of all the method that doesn't make my temper surface. "

The voice giggled at that statement but immediately resumed its duty.

" Very well , so i will tap into your mind and explore what we can make you become. Think of it as Destiny if you will. Ah , already done. Your personal looks have been adjusted to your new form , happy playing Mr. Denvers or should i call you Xara now? " The voice said and immediately everything before Daniels eyes became black.

But soon a warning tone notifiyed him of a countdown that popped up in his peripheral vision. He tried focusing in on it but it always remained at the non-central point where it had originated at.

The clock ran down swiftly , as it had only started at 60 , and as it reached 0 a blinding light assaulted him. He immediately thought of some transferring method such as the direct deatomization and reconstruction device , but after he blinked a few times he noticed it was just the general displacment issues coming from a dark room to a 100% illuminated area in a matter of seconds.

Something he was awfully accustomed too , as his job had that in the description.

.....................

Another few painful seconds passed as his eyes grew accustomed to the intense brightness. Even before he could see anything , he already had a impression of the surrounding area.

Besides the happy chirping of birds , the buzzing of insects around and the complete absence of any Human conversation he was close to nature. The light blindness soon vanished and what he saw before him took him rather in shock.

Yes he saw a forest close by but nonetheless he was in a village. Or rather a assortment of run down houses and shacks. Half of these had crumpled due years of un use or to external influence.

A thick layer of dust and grime covered the broken down heaps of stone that once were walls or even roofs. The village or whatever it was he was situated in had surely once been a bright and cheerful town , judging by the houses that stretched as far as one could see.

Xara was unsure of what to do , but everything around him intrigued him. Sure everybody in this time and age had some VR experience. Ranging from simple games to training exercises or even the most popular means of conversation , Vype.

As simple as it was for him to walk in the real world , Xara felt no dissonance with his new body as he walked to the closest pile of rocks. He knelt down and reached for the debris. Much to his surprise the hand that was half-way outstretched didn't have the usual pink whitish skin tone he was used to seeing.

His hand was black , not a brown tone with which people described skin color , but a genuine black as night color. The color had some grayish highlights , Xara discovered as he looked further up his hand.

A strong gust of wind blew from his back and made a whistling sound as it disappeared in the alley in-front of him. With the gust of wind a bunch of raven black hair was whipped across his face.

He dragged his hand across his face to tame the unruly mass of thick hair under control. After he had mostly managed with this he stared at his fingers. Thick and leathery was the best description.

The fingernails had a yellowish tint to them. He looked around for a few seconds but couldn't find a intact window , or a piece of glass that was big enough , to look at himself. Instead he touched his own face.

Xara , as he touched his own face , noticed that he had a big overbite. His lower jaw was pushed out extremely to allow 2 tusks that grew from his canines extend out of his lips. This was the first time he noticed why his upper lip kept bothering him.

After all the tusks extended slightly over his upper lip. The skin didn't feel smooth at all , more leathery as his hands looked like and the smooth and uneven patches reminded him of scar tissue.

He came to the conclusion , he was one ugly dude. But judging by the sheer size of his feet and hands he was even taller then his real life self. Nonetheless it surprised him that this new form hadn't brought any feeling of unease with it.

Xara was in a complete different body then what his usual self was. On the other hand technology kept evolving in ways most people had no idea about. He simply shrugged it off as one of those incidents where he hadn't heard about it.

Just as he was about to the the debris once again , after he had almost forgot about the original purpose , a loud sound erupted behind him.

Xara looked over his shoulder and found a human girl , the mere age of 12-14 , standing at the place he had appeared. She once held a big bucket of water , but this had caused the noise at it fell to the floor.

Her mouth was opening and closing repeatedly as she saw Xara. He simply stood up , dusted of his pants out of habit from his job , and walked over. But even before he made 3 steps the girl suddenly shouted in a voice as inhuman as possible.

More of shriek came out of her mouth then any means of conversation. Xara , as surprised at this as the girl was of seeing him , stopped dead in his tracks. This surprise didn't show on his face , instead he put on his best poker-face which he learned to deal with the utmost troublesome clients.

" Calm down. I won't hurt you. " Xara told the girl showing her his empty palms as he outstretched them towards her.

His tone was deeper then in real life , but still his own in a bizarre bestial way. She continued to scream and wail but after a minute she luckily lost most of her voice , she must have strained her vocal cords.

" Good that's better. What happened here? " Xara asked while he pointed towards all the houses and debris.

Instead of getting a clear answer the Girl still rhythmically opened and closed her mouth and ran away as she herself noticed her shrieks weren't coming out anymore. Xara sighed and cursed under his breath.

He scratched the back of his head , shrugged his shoulders and started to walk in one direction. Not that he had any clear goal in mind but it was better then standing around was it not?

.................

As he walked along the debris clattered streets he soon noticed a few intact houses. Mostly in the style of gothic architecture. Xara or his real world ego had a sense for these things as he was around them quite a bit.

The pointed arches or the ribbed vaults that he saw if the roof was more intact then not were a indicator for this. Even though he felt ominous to be confronted with something he saw in real life as well as in this game it was refreshing rather then oppressive.

A certain building caught his interest. With completely intact walls and roof as well as stairs that lead to its entrance that were completely devoid of the grime or dust that covered everything else picked his interest.

As his boot covered foot landed on the first step a hollow echo resounded from it. Immediately Xara thought of Marble. But he had no time to think about this in more detail as the wooden gate that lead to the interior of the building opened slightly.

A green eye spied through the crack of the wood and instantly slammed the gate shut as he looked at Xara. Xara blinked confused a few times and then rubbed his eyes. Surely he had seen that but what was wrong with these people?

" Hello , i know you are in there. Open up i want to ask you something! " Xara demanded as he banged his over sized fist against the heavy wood.

A minute of silence passed without any reply as Xara waited for an answer. Even though he was in a new body the black leathery skin began to tingle just like in his real body. He knocked again , fiercely this time completely forgetting his ' well behaved self ' that his mother tried to instill him ever since his childhood.

" Open the door , now! " Xara shouted.

" Nobodys here go away! " A voice replied.

There it was , the intensive pain in his head as another phenomenon occurred that derived from his situation.

As it happened in the blink of an eye Xara had no idea what just happened. The only thing he knew was that all of a sudden he held a big 2h ax as big as himself in his hand.

With the natural expertise of a man in rage he grabbed the weapon at the end of its shaft and imbedded the heavy axeblade deep into the wooden gate. Splinters flew everywhere and a few even drew blood on Xaras cheek as they flew by.

But he had not noticed and wouldn't anyway. He slammed his booted foot against the wooden gate and used it as point of leverage to drag the axehead back out of the wood. Immediately as it was free he swung over his shoulder once again , directly on the spot he had hit before.

Half of the axehead completely disappeared as it encased itself in the wood. Some would think he would shout out his rage or frustration but Xara just silently went on with his task. Again and again and again Xara continued those motions until the gate broke open.

A last kick barged open the passage as the wings flew open. The blood in his veins fircly burned through Xaras veins as he scanned the area for the insolent fool that dared to trigger his anger.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

At first he noticed nothing but soon a black bundle caught his attention. Laying against a wall it seemed inconspicuous but the shaking and sobbing sounds gave him away quickly.

Xara fought down his anger which took him a few minutes but then he spoke up with the most neutral of voice he could manage in this body.

" It would have been much easier on both of us if you would just open the door. So . i just arrived here what do i have to do? "

The black bundle soon lowered the blanket it had wrapped around itself and those green eyes were visible once again. Fear was apparent in them but at least the sobbing had stopped even if his body still shook violently.

A inner struggle was visible on the mans face , that seemed to be aged before his years judging from his smooth skin but gray stricken hair. Just as the girl a while ago he seemed at loos of words as he opened his mouth and closed it periodically struggling to find the right words.

" Huh? " Was the smartest thing the man could produce.

As one would suspect , the thumping pain of a headache instantly made itself noticeable in Xaras head.

" I just arrived here. Also i have no idea what I'm supposed to do , so could you help me? " Xara told him while only a slight hint of anger swung with his voice.

The man on the other hand just stammered once again until he scratched his hair and finally opened his mouth to say the first intelligent thing of the day.

" You are an adventurer? " The man asked with an awe struck expression.

At first Xara thought about the term , then he once again realized they couldn't very much tell the programmed codes of this game that gave it depth and story that people from the real world would haunt them from now on.

" Yes i suppose. "

Xara wondered how he looked like in this world , as the man repeatedly looked at Xaras figure up and down seemingly trying to find any faults with the appearance. Warily the mans gaze kept wandering to his right hand.

As Xara followed the gaze he noticed the ax that was almost the same size as him still clenched tightly in his hand. Naturally Xara had no clue where the weapon came from in the first place so he simply clenched it tighter and tried to look as casual with it as possible.

" U-Uhm , would you mind putting that away? " The man said visibly disturbed by the ax that looked totally inconspicuous in Xaras hands.

Really how could a 1.80 m one sided battle ax be even noticed besides the black skinned figure who was using it as a support for his weight as he rested his hand on it.

" Hmm no. Anyways back to the main topic. What am i supposed to do in this world? "

Xara knew this wasn't the best way to change the subject especially since he had no idea of how to put that weapon away. It also felt very natural to him in some auspicious way.

" Well most Adventurers look for tasks to do. Or they go exploring dungeons to discover treasures. Sometimes they even find things that have long been forgotten by man-kind. " The man told him while still eyeing Xara suspicious.

" So where do i find those tasks? "

With open mouthed surprise the man that was still huddled in the black blanket stared at Xara. This time not out of suspicion but something akin to total disbelief.

A great displeasure spread through Xara and he raised an eyebrow at the man while keeping his other completely neutral. A small droplet of sweat trickled down the mans face while he saw this expression.

" I-In g-general other p-people can give you tasks. Such as hunting monsters or even c-collecting certain materials. " The man sputtered.

" So do you have any tasks that i could complete? "

" Well we are always short on food. Maybe you could hunt something edible in the woods nearby? "

Just as the man finished the words a ding sound was audible and a smooth blue window pooped open in-front of Xara.

It was a map with many gray areas but in the center there was a town with the letters Dristan and a small green dot right in the middle of it. Xara figured that the green dot was the him displayed.

A second later a small red circle appeared just below his position at the edge of a forest.

" South of here in the forest you mean? " Xara tried to give his reasoning some definitive proof.

" Yes , there should be rabbits and deer in that forest. But they won't let you get close you will need a bow or a clever planned ambush. " The man told him.

" Where can i get a bow? "

" As you are an Orc you should have one. Just visualize a bow in your hands. " The man clarified.

From this conversation Xara figured out quite a few things. Firstly the race which he would be impersonating from now on. Even though Xara had never really played any games everyone knew of the Orcs.

Numerous all time classic movies had them in either minor or major roles. In addition there were thousands of books written in the same way.

Now he also understood why this man was cautious of him. In most storys Orcs were described as brutal savages that were warmongers. Naturally their outer frightening appearance was of no help either.

Another thing was how to materialize and dematerialize weapons. Imagination was the key but he had to try that out later.

" Good. I'll be back shortly. " Xara told the man spun on his heels in a military fashion and left the chopped down door , that seriously needed some repairs , to the mans devices.

.................

Besides the background noises of the local avian and insect population nothing of any sort held Xaras attention longer then a brief moment as he walked to the forest. Just at the outskirts of this he halted with his previous purposeful steps.

A image of a short-bow flashed before his mind and as he felt the leather wrapped Axe disappearing from his fingertips as new sensation took its place. Wood that was both robust and tense at the same time.

Next he manifested the picture of a quiver filled with arrows on his back which partially after he felt the tip of said quiver. Instead of being filled with 40 or more arrows there were only 10 inside.

Another problem arose quickly as Xara scanned the bow. The string which was pulled back and released to propel the projectiles forward limply hung of the bows side. This problem was easily solved , unlike the missing of arrows.

Xara grabbed the bow at one curved end and placed the other firmly on the ground. He locked the bow in place with his whole leg and put pressure on said bow from where he was holding it.

Directly the bows wood tensed up decreasing the length of it but arching it even more. His other hand grabbed the loose string and placed the unattached end into the nock.

He lifted the bow and eyed it critically to asses any imperfections on it. With fluid movements he pulled the string back after knocking a arrow to it. Just in a few seconds he completed the act of drawing , aiming and releasing the arrow.

As had aimed for a tree 20 meters away he hit the tree that stood right besides it. His facial expression turned into a scowl and repeated the same process but this time he hit the tree on the left.

His skin began to tingle so he took a deep breath and remembered everything his father had taught him about shooting a bow in the real world. Gruesome memories flowed right past inner eye , but there was some information he could use.

Another arrow was knocked to the string , pulled back and released but this time his mind was devoid of any thought except hitting the target. Additionally he breathed out just before he released the string.

With a loud *thunk* the arrow attached itself in the dead center of the trees bark. A victorious smirk appeared on Xaras face as he went and retrieved the arrows.

" I guess the game helps me greatly with aiming , I haven't hunted or had a bow in my hands for years. " Xara spoke to himself out of habit while he walked deeper into the woods.

Normally if a gamer wanted to find any monster they would look into the distance to catch any sign of their coated hides. But as Xaras experience in *hunting* was much deeper he eyed the forest floor right in-front of his feet.

Closely he looked for any hint that a animal frequented through the area. His motto had always been why actively hunt for something if you could just figure out its movement patterns and wait for the prey to come by.

A attribute that greatly displeased his father. Big fights broke out between the pair when his loving but strickt father forced Daniel to go hunting with him.

Xara walked for 30 minutes before he noticed a deep gash in the earth. This gash wasn't covered in the fallen leaves or broken of twigs that usually littered a forests floor.

As he crouched down before it and inspected the soil with his hands instead of his eyes , as those were occupied scanning the area , he directly felt a certain type of muster reflected in the earthy soil while his eyes found a good spot to hide in close by.

Now , as Xara was walking towards the bush that would cover his appearance , he scanned the leaves of the trees directly above his head. In a similar fashion they uniformly swung in one direction.

" Seems to be a good spot to hide in. Even the wind is blowing towards the bush from the animal trail. " The Orc spoke to himself once again.

A few thorns scratched at his skin as he entered the bush but he flat out ignored them as none were deep enough to draw blood. He placed the bow in his hands once again and took a few arrows out of the quiver.

With ease the pointy arrow tips were entered into the soft soil so they were standing upright out of it. For quicker access of course. Sure a quiver helped with the speed of drawing but there is nothing better then to have them before you.

The only thing Xara had to do now was wait for the prey to come by. But as usual after 20 minutes of waiting his skin tingled. So he concentrated on something else. With great interest he compared the trees around him to the trees from the real world.

Sure most of them had the same size and shape as their models in the real world , but that particiular tree with blood red bark had no place in the real world. The sap was black instead of the usual amber color and the leafs had a sickly green color.

A rustling sound was audible as Xara shifted his body and tried to find another tree just like that special one. Much to his surprise he found none , at least not in his immediate field of vision.

Xara took a mental note to keep an eye out for those trees from now on. Just as he thought this another rustling sound was audible through close proximity. But this time it wasn't him.

He realized where the sound came from and locked his gaze upon the spot. Another bush just at the start of the tracks quivered with motion as something made its way through the thick vines and intertangled leafs

Without any direct thought or indication towards the task , Xara readily knocked an arrow to the bow and drew the string back.

Suddenly the bush shook with an even greater force and Xara realized from its intensity that either it had to be a big animal or a small herd of critters. Nonetheless his arms and eyes worked in perfect unison as he released the string.

His left arm that was holding the wood of the bow was slightly scrapped as the string tore a slight gash into his skin. Even though the contact to the skin made the arrow slightly slower it still disappeared directly into the bush where had intended it to go.

A loud painful sound filled the air as knocked another Arrow to the string and drew it back. This time he waited for his prey.

As expected the rest of the small herd , at least he hoped those were just normal critters , 3 more deer broke through the bush. Instantly he released at the first one. A smacking sound resounded after the arrow struck its flank and it collapsed dead in the motion to flee.

Even before the animal hit the soil the next arrow was released at the third. With the same manner it crashed into the surface as it breathed its last. Now as the last one was in full flight Xara stood up from the bush as he pulled out another arrow from the quiver.

Instinctivly he released but instead of striking the flank , the critter avoided the fatal shot as it started to zig-zag , he hit its leg. This wasn't a problem for Xara as it just reached the effective distance for his shots.

" It will die of blood loose and can't go far anyways with the injured leg. " Xara stated to no one in particular.

Now he simply thought of a hunting knife , similar to the one he had in the real world , and the bow disappeared and in its stead a rather crude knife appeared. Xara clicked his tongue in annoyance , but he also knew it would do the trick.

As he was about to place the knife to the animals hide , to skin it as he had done numerous times in the real world , he noticed a ring on his right hand. Naturally someone would notice something that obvious directly , especially since he examined his hands closely when he first arrived here.

But knew this wasn't something he simply forgot , no this ring appeared out of thin air just as he was about to touch the corpse. He also found out this ring purpose a second later.

A flash of blue light surged from it and seemed to suck the dead animal into it. A few moments passed before the procedure was completed. The annoying *ding* sound he had heard before resounded again after it absorbed his former prey.

You have looted items.

2 Experience points

2 Deer flanks

3 Deer meat slabs

1 Brown deer pelt.

1 Intact Arrow salvaged

Xara was stunned for a second then he reminded himself it was just a game. It was really hard for him to constantly remember this. Everything felt exactly like in the real world as he could feel the sun that warmed his skin when it breached through the tight roof of leafs above his head.

Even the iron smell of blood that came from the *looted* animal remains in-front of him. Another reason could be similar situations that remained anchored to his memory that reminded him of such.

Quickly he finished ' absorbing' all of the corpses around him. Even the one in the bush which he instantly killed with one shot that he had aimed without seeing the target. He often had those moments where he would just do something because his gut told him so , mostly those things turned out great just like now.

As he finished with these remains he went after the injured one that escaped. The blood that stuck either to the soil or leaves showed him the way. Only 15 minutes later he found the corpse of the critter.

But much to his surprise the scent of blood attracted the predators of this region. A brown coated canine. Naturally one would think of wolves but these creatures had rather long and slender tails.

Not like wolves with their bushy tails that brittled up if they were about to attack , no more like certain dog breeds. Nonetheless their mouths were red as they had started to devour his prey on the spot.

Close to nothing was left of the deers belly. Even though Xara knew it was petty to cry over spoilt milk he materialized the bow in his hand once again. An arrow was knocked to it and released instantly.

But what caught him off guard was the canine that evaded his attack with a jump. Xaras eyes grew wide as he realized those animals were prepared for him immediatly his gaze wandered to a tree.

" Crap i got careless , shouldn't have walked with the direction of the wind.... " Xara said out loud.

More rustling came from all around , he knew a pack of predators was waiting for him. Not that he saw or smelled it but his gut told him so. He also realized this was a one-way ticket for him if he remained here.

Without any hesitation he began to run away as fast as his legs could carry him. The real wolves could easily catch up to him so he hoped these animals were different or that his sudden flight would confuse the beasts.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw them in pursuit almost able to nip at his heels. Those beasts were organized he realized in an instant. Or they were used to this situation.

Xara knew he had mere seconds left so he used motions he hadn't ever used before in this kind of situation as predators were shy of humans in the real world. Guns were a deep in-grained fear of any animal in the wilds.

Without halting in his steps he saw the opportunity and jumped grabbing onto a thick branch that was just in his reach. The hard work of his job had always kept him rather fit so lifting himself up with pure strength came as easy to him here as in the real world.

The beasts surprised by this sudden change moved beyond the tree where he had hoisted himself up on but came running back , sniffing the air to find his position.

One of the smarter beasts that stood still as it lifted its nose into the air was presented with a arrow right between its eyes as Xara had no intention to wait for them to pin point his location. Sure they couldn't reach him , as canines couldn't climb trees at least he hoped this.

Three more of the beasts died before a loud bark from the direction Xara and his pursuers had came from errupted. In the blink of an eye the canines disappeared into the brush. As Xara followed the direction where the bark had originated from he saw a blood red furred beast that seemed bigger then its kin eying him in plain sight as if to mock the hunter.

Without a moments hesitation Xara drew back the string and shot another arrow at it , but the actions of the beast left him open mouthed.

The 'alpha' of the pack , as Xara named the blood red furred one , jumped forward as the arrow kept getting closer , swung its body around and caught the arrow in its jaws. While giving a defiant look the beast snapped through the arrow in its jaws and walked back into the cover of the bushes , directly exposing its back to show its supremacy.

" Holy crap .... " Xara spoke his thoughts out loud at his surprise.

Violently he shook his head to clear the image of the beast from his mind as he started to climb down the tree. Naturally he had to be cautious of another ambush of the pack , but if he kept an eye on his surroundings he could just jump into another tree.

Again the ring appeared on his right hand as he touched the beasts so they began to disappear into it. Sadly he had lost 2 arrows today. One that was evaded , which he had no intention of recovering and running into another ambush , another one that was just snapped through.

The other 4 were recovered as he had ' looted' the 4 previously slayn beasts. What surprised him was that he acquired flanks and slabs of wild dog meat , which probably were edible but he had never tried any kind of meat of predators before.

" Wonder what this tastes like ... grilled over an open fire... " wondered.

He shook his head at the thought and continued to look for more trails of critters , to safely hunt more deer or a few rabbits if he could find any.

..........................