Tutorial Village

The village was not as close as it had appeared.

Or, rather, the path to the village from the grassy hillock that marked my arrival was not as straight forward as I had hoped.

Mentally worn down by the experience of "inhabiting" my new body, and motivated purely by the threat of my bodiless assistant thinking I was hard of hearing again, I hobbled frantically through brush and foliage alike, pushing in what I had hoped was the direction of civilization. A few unruly pieces of vegetation gave me a passing strike in protest, but I paid them little mind.

As my anxiety and anticipation rose, however, I found myself strangely un-accosted by the voice inside my head. Maybe it had more leniency for the tutorial? Whatever the case, as my mad dash toward the village drew even longer, I allowed myself to relax a little - and finally worry about more normal things.

I was somewhere else. Where, I did not know. When, I did not know? It definitely had the feel of some sort of medieval setting - but whether or not it was based in the world I knew or not had yet to be seen. The video game-ey nature of my entrance had certainly steered my mind in the direction of high fantasy, but there was nothing, I had come to realize, that actually confirmed it.

"Man, I really hope this isn't actual medieval times..." I muttered, pushing through another wall of foliage only to find myself, at last, on a plain dirt road. To my left, the road continued off into the hills, and on my right, it led some distance away into the village proper. I was finally at my destination.

"I hope this doesn't seem...hostile," I said to myself, looking cautiously at the sword at my hip. Hopefully, it was more of an "adventurers adventuring all over the place" kind of setting, and not a "oh god he's got a weapon, guards come help" kind've one.

As I meandered toward the outskirts of the village - trying to seem both casual and professional, as to not raise suspicion - I suddenly felt a surge of energy coursing through every inch of my body, as if I had just taken a shot of expresso.

"Woah," I breathed, surprised, but in a good way. The mental fatigue I had experienced - though it had calmed considerably while I was walking - seemed to disappear completely.

"Destination reached. Experience has been awarded for the completion of objectives."

The voice of my assistant nearly made me jump out of my skin, having still been expecting rapprochement for my unsatisfactory haste, but as I took in its words, I relaxed again.

"So, more video game-ey stuff. This is what it feels like to get XP...?" I thought to myself, inspecting my outstretched arms as if they were hiding some incredible secret.

A soft voice sounded ahead of me, speaking words that, had I been paying attention, I still would not have understood.

Jolting upright, I looked around wildly for the source of the voice, only to find a short, elderly woman standing not far away. She looked concerned, but FOR me rather than OF me.

She spoke again, saying much the same as the first time with a few alterations, but her reiteration did little to help me.

"I...uh...this doesn't sound like a language I know." Or even a language I knew existed.

The old woman gestured to her arms, speaking more words I could not understand. She held them out in front of her, making an exaggerated motion of looking them up and down, and then gestured back at me.

Ah. I was being weird in public. How kind of her to be concerned, rather than disgusted.

I forced a smile on my face, nodding and gesturing as best I could to indicate that I was fine. I brushed my arms up to my shoulders to illustrate this fact, poorly.

"Objective fulfilled: Talk to someone. Objective fulfilled: Pass a skill check. Objective fulfilled: Use a Charisma skill. Objective fulfille-"

The voice continued, but the words became lost to me as the same surge I experienced before happened again, and again, and again. I stumbled, holding my head in my hands, as I tried desperately to parse what I was feeling, to get some sort of control over it. The feelings were good, but extreme - just as my mind reeled from the sudden influx of energy, it was calmed by the same force.

As the voice finally ceased, and my senses began to stabilize, I felt a light pressure - heavily dulled by the equipment I was wearing - on my arm which still gripped my head.

"Son, are you alright? What's the matter?"

I looked up slowly, only to find the little old lady right next to me, looking even more concerned than before, her hand on my armored forearm.

"S-sorry, yeah, I think I'm good. Now, anyway," I replied, standing upright to illustrate the point. The woman's hand did not leave my arm, even as it returned to my side.

"So you do speak our tongue? Thank goodness! I don't know where you're from, but I've never heard anything like what was coming out of your mouth earlier!" The old woman smiled, giving my arm a squeeze before finally letting go.

"What? I...uh...oh, yeah. I, um, forgot where I was, sorry. Haha." I tried to hide my confusion at the revelation, and failed, but the old woman seemed content to let this pass. "Oh, I'm Rhys. Rhys Mat-" I paused, mid sentence, my mind suddenly racing. I had no need to lie to this woman - no one here would recognize my name, anyway - but why would I need to use the same boring name I had in life? Here was a chance at reinvention! "Rhys...Mephiston. But my friends call me Mephisto."

I had a second to think and that was the best I could do. Whatever. I could give it more thought and have something different ready for the next town...

"I see," the old woman replied, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "You can call me Angrea. Forgive me if I don't supply you with my full name - it is worthless, anyway." She waved her hand dismissively. "What brings you here to Troph, Mephisto?"

"I...came here by chance, actually," I replied, silently making note of the village's name. "I'm new to this country, as you may have guessed."

"Objective fulfilled: Acquire information."

Another surge, and while it had caught me off guard, I had some handling of the sensation at this point.

"Experience threshold reached. Level advanced to 2."

"Oh shit, 2? I really started at 1?" I thought to myself, resisting the urge to sigh in resignation. This did not bode well, by conventional logic. It did explain why I was getting experience so easily, however...

"Hmm..." Angrea hummed to herself, closing one eye and looking me up and down with the other. "New to the country, you say? I'd call it a stretch to call you new if you're all the way here, son. The closest border is more than a hundred miles away!"

I silently thanked whatever translation ability was at play-

"Objective fulfilled: Learn a new language."

…Did it forget to give me experience for that? Whatever, I was thankful this translation ability was here to make sure she said 'miles' instead of 'quartles' or something equally incomprehensible to express distance.

"Ah, well..." I struggled to come up with a believable lie, given that "I was reincarnated on that hill over there" wasn't exactly an explanation that inspired confidence in my mental state. "I've...been getting lost a lot. I'm afraid this is the first village I've been to."

Angrea's closed eye opened and both went wide.

"The first, you say?! Gods above, boy, did you miss every road and sign for a hundred miles?!"

"I have a really bad sense of direction, you see." I decided to lean into the 'yes, I'm really that stupid' persona I had inadvertently created.

The old woman rubbed her temple absently.

"You've got it rough, I see. Are you...an adventurer?" Her eyes, scanning me up and down, lingered briefly on the sword at my side. She didn't seem distrustful of it, which was a good sign.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, excited to have heard the word. It was 'that' type of setting, after all! "I am an adventurer from a faraway land! I'm here to make a name for myself in this...kingdom." I wasn't actually sure what kind of governmental system-

"Objective fulfilled: Pass a Charisma check with a terrible lie."

"Hey, no need for the color commentary," I shot back, mentally. What the hell kind've objective was that?

"Ah, you've no end of work to do here, then," Angrea replied with a shake of her head. "Things may seem peaceful here, but stray too far from the roads...Ah, who am I kidding? You've probably had your fill of it already."

"Y-yeah, been rough out in those...woods."

Angrea perked up a bit. "You've enough confidence to go into the wooded places, have you? You might be an adventurer worth your salt, after all!"

Note to self: don't go into the woods.

"Objective fulfilled: Practice cowardice."