CHAPTER 4: Moving East

My stomach is grumbling – I'm not used to mussing meals. It's been 20 minutes of walking, and I open the system to pass the time. I notice the page that says 'Class', and open it, but it's empty. "System, what is class?" I ask.

*ting!* "Upon encountering a Class, the user may choose to learn it."

"Okay," I say. "I understand. So to 'encounter a class', I just need to go somewhere. Where do I go? To a school? Is that where I take classes?"

*ting!* the system chimes and responds, "Upon encountering a user of the 'Barbarian' class, you may choose to learn the 'Barbarian' class. "Upon encountering a user of the 'Bard' class, you may choose to learn the 'Bard' class. "Upon –"

"OOOOH. So not like a class like a course in school. It's a class like a distinction. And all I need to do is find someone who is a barbarian, and I can learn to be a barbarian. That's great! Someone in town has to have a class… the priestess, Tyrna is a Cleric! I can start there." For everything that's happened, since last night, I realize that I've never stopped and thought about how wonderful the system really is. I need to explore it more. I already have rewards that I've never even seen! Pages of it that I haven't looked at! I summon the "inventory" page to look at the potion and the axe that I got this morning. The potion. I'm thinking about where it must be. I don't have any pockets. It's clearly listed here, and the system still has it. Just as I'm thinking about where I can find it, a glass bottle of red, swirling liquid appears in my hands. Amazing! So what does it do? I take a cork stopper out of the top slowly – thoughtfully, even. I'm half a second into psyching myself up to take a sip, when the sweet, flowery smell hits me. Just the scent makes me feel better. I little more awake. If the smell made me pretty sure that this potion is the real deal, what happens next makes me sure. I stop walking as the system rings it's dulcet tone.

*ting!* "Potion identified" Suddenly, words appear in the air above the potion.

POTION OF HEALING

Potion, common.

You regain 2d4+2 hit points when you drink this potion.

I don't know about the numbers, or what they mean. Or do I? I open the 'Statistics' page in the system, and read… 'Hitpoints: 4/4'. Through all the running, and the blisters on my tired feet, and all the soreness in my limbs, my hitpoints are full… Surprising, but what's really going through my mind is that even if I were almost dead, this potion could bring me back to full health. Amazing. The potion silently disappears from my hand and back into my inventory when I make a quick decision: I'll use this potion as a last resort. For right now, with the inventory screen up in front of me, I'm more interested in that axe!

The axe appears in my hands, surprisingly light. I don't really know how to use it very well… but I don't really need to. I swing it hard a few times, feeling it bite into the neck of a fallen log. It's not the axe of a lumberjack, or a woodsman, but it's a well-built axe, all the same. Catching my breath, I soundlessly return the axe to my inventory, and I start moving. I open the system again, looking at the page with Backgrounds on it. There are more Backgrounds to be unlocked, but they say things like, "Charlatan. Earned 1,000 by confidence tricks or with scams.", or "Criminal. Earned 1,000 by thievery or robbery." The next one says. "Entertainer. Earned 1,000 by performing for crowds.". At this point, I give up. If there was anything else that I'd spent my life doing other than washing clothes and dishes, praying and cleaning floors… well, then maybe the system would have given me a different reward.

I switched to another tab – one that's glowing brightly. The system must be making it clear that this means I have an update or a reward.

Quests.

I see a few quests, with names and descriptions. The first one to catch my eye, however, blocks all the others out. It's all I can see. I still see it there, in my mind, when I close my eyes in disbelief.

"Learning your roots: Find the monster that killed your parents"

I'm so shocked that I fall straight on my behind. What does this mean? Monster? Killed? The system must be mistaken, and I put it out of my mind. Like I'm slamming shut a book to block out the words, I close the system window. Getting back home has to be my priority. I keep walking, trying not to think about my parents. Trying not to think about monsters. My whole life, I thought I was happy, but the other sisters of the convent have families. Parents and brothers and sisters. Grandparents and aunts and uncles. Even girls sent from afar who never got visitors would at least get letters from their families. There has always been a sad feeling that I get when I see it happen, too. It's obvious that my life would have been different if I'd known my parents. What were they like? I'm not even focusing on the woods around me until I hear a low growl. I was so lost in my thoughts that I must have run into a wild dog, or a wolf! But I take a good look at the lean and hungry thing in front of me. It's not a wolf… not exactly. It's smaller than a wolf, for one, and it has a dark tawny beige winter coat. The system, unafraid to state the obvious, has placed a red word above thing's head, with an arrow pointed down. "Enemy". That's the red word hovering above the yellow, focused eyes of this beast, and definitely the feeling that I'm getting here, as well. It's fangs are bared, but what scares me more than the growling jaws is the thought that this coyote, or whatever it is, is probably an animal that hunts in packs. My head snaps left and right, instinctively, and at the same time, the creature takes a step forward. I can't look away again, or this thing is going to lunge! I slowly move my hand behind my back, so that I can summon something from my inventory without scaring this thing. Any sudden movement, and I feel like I won't make it out of these woods after all.

I do my best to use a low calming voice, while accessing my inventory. "Easy now… I'm just going to back away sloooowly…"

*ROWR!* the sound it makes, a snarling bark, comes from deep within its body. Then all of the sudden, it's on me. Both arms fly up in front of me as the canine creature knocks me down – but the thing is faster than I am to act. Its lips are curled back from its hungry mouth as it grips my forearm in it's jaws. …But my axe is in the other hand. The hyena growls as I scream in pain, and then my eyes go wide as I grit my teeth and the noise turns into a cry of anger. The creature's own growl turns into a whimper of pain as I strike at it with the axe – and the noises change back again as the struggle goes back and forth – I don't know when the creature stopped growling and making noises, but I do know that I kept hitting it and hitting it, even its sounds – and its moving – stopped entirely.

*ting!* Heaving and panting, my wild eyes don't leave the doglike creature. The system chimes again, probably more than once, to snap me out of my reverie.

*ting!* "Level 1/8 titles are now available. Level 1/8 quests are now available. Congratulations on earning a new title!" But it's a few minutes before my heart and my breath slow down, and I can think straight enough to open up the system. There are a few new 'titles' to earn, apparently. And one that I already have. I look through the unfulfilled requirements first.

Bandit. Complete a successful robbery.

Guard. Kill a monster that threatens the people of a township or village.

Noble. Noble Background

Tribal Warrior. outlander background

These are … not all things that I can understand. Rob someone? Rescue some town? It's just as likely that I become a noble. Forget learning to be an 'outlander'. The system says I'd have to spend 10,000 hours in the woods. I haven't even spent the last ten hours in the woods, and I want to cry in a long, hot bath. But I must be doing something right, because I'm about to be rewarded. Maybe it's the relief of not being eaten by the creature that gnawed on my arm, by the sun seems to shine a little bit brighter. I can't forget that I'm still wounded, though. The shock of the fight is fading, and the pain in my arm is getting worse. I've been instinctively holding my hand lamely in front of me, as it bleeds, but looking down at it, the sight makes me dizzy – I look away, and into the system interface. The rewards can wait for a moment. I change pages, looking at my stats. Sure enough, my health is at ¼. If this isn't an emergency, nothing is. The potion appears in my hand – the one that's not at the end of a bleeding arm (though I don't know if it's by accident, or design. The potion is… incredible. It smelled so sweet that I expected it to taste like honey, but instead it's herbal and smoothe. I look at my arm, waiting for the flesh to knit itself back together, and the blood to wash away – but nothing happens. Well, not 'nothing', exactly. It stops bleeding, after all. And the pain is subsiding: perhaps not gone, but greatly dulled. The wound still looks fresh, and I'm afraid to flex my fingers, lest I make the arm start bleeding again. If I had anything to bandage my arm with, or at least something clean to wrap it in, I would. But I don't. Maybe the system does? Either way, sitting here next to the body of a dead dog won't help. I've stayed here long enough, so I set my aching feet to walking. I bring up the system, and check my hitpoints, which are back to 4/4. No surprise there – I even feel a little less tired than I was a moment ago – probably my imagination.

Moving at about half speed, I'm paying more attention to the woods around me, and noticing more of the sights and sounds – birds and squirrels and other things that I don't understand, and I'm trying to make less noise, too. I spare glances here and there to look into the system interface, at the 'Title' screen again. I should be interested in some clean clothes to cover my arm with and so that I'm not walking into town half naked from the damage to my now-useless outfit. But I'm really only thinking of one thing.

"Please be shoes, Please be shoes, please be shoes…"

Cultist. Kill a creature while wearing or displaying a religious symbol

REWARDS; Ruby of the War Mage

Accept rewards? YES / NO

The fulfilled requirement catches me off guard, and I look down at my chest. The symbol of Lathander that I wear is always there, and it's …well… prominent. A knot forms in my stomach. "Morninglord, please forgive me.", I say. But the Morninglord either already answere, or won't. The sky is beautiful, and I only killed that creature in self defense. The poor thing. I've never hurt a fly before today, but I'd do it again if I had to. The thought scares me a little, and I look around, suspiciously. I really really hope that I won't have to. The thrill I get thinking about it scares me a little – and plus, I don't have another potion.

I look back to the message, registering what it really says. A ruby? A RUBY? "Accept!", I say excitedly. I can't wait to get my hands on a real ruby, and sure enough, it appears in my hands cupped before me. What's more, the beautiful, polished gem is about an inch wide, and marked with designs – and it shines like the sun. I can't focus on it now, though, so I put it in my inventory. Wait till the convent hears about this!

But I'm starting to wonder how far I'll have to go. I'm afraid of being in the woods another night. That might be a bit irrational, since the sun is not going to set for another nine hours, but I should have found the town by now. Instead, the trees are thinning, but I don't recognize the area ahead. It's just a long road, like any other. I'm looking left and right, not sure where to go. Did the system lie to me? Or did the sun? I should be home, but instead, I'm flopping down on my butt, crying because, somehow, I'm lost.

AGAIN.