Chapter 2 – Magic Bolt! Magic Bolt! Magic Bolt!
Mason woke up. His head pounding, his entire body sore.
"This is definitely not a dream. If that happens every time I level up, I might just off myself right now."
His character sheet already open, Mason started to read the various info boxes that had popped up while he had been unconscious.
Notification – 1/5
Initiation complete.
Your character sheet has been updated.
You have unallocated stat points to spend.
After reading the message, Mason wondered how he was supposed to close the current box and move on to the next one. As soon as the thought entered his mind, the box closed, and the box under it could be seen.
Notification – 2/5
You have reached Level 1.
Stats unlocked.
Skills unlocked.
Skill 'Identify (Basic)' acquired – Identify - This allows you to identify the objects, creatures, or people you focus on. Level further to increase the available information.
Race skills unlocked.
Skill selection unlocked.
Stat points allocated.
Notification – 3/5
Quest update - Zero to Hero - In order to begin your journey, you must take your first step, reach level 1, and begin initiation.
Quest Complete
Reward options – A. Small Weapon box (Common) or B. Small clothes box (Common).
'My instincts are telling me to go for the weapon box, that mosquito was fucking huge, and God knows what is going to try to eat me next. On the other hand, my junk is awfully exposed, and if that somehow gets bitten off, the women of my world and this one will miss out greatly, and that surely cannot be.'
His inner thoughts having done a decent job of convincing him, Mason settled on the clothes box as his decision and with that thought, he felt a light thud in the grass directly in front of him before moving on.
Notification – 4/5
Achievement Reward - Rise and shine, sleepy head.
Reward – Health Potion (Common) X 3
Achievement Reward - Better get started.
Reward – Mana Potion (Common) X 3
Notification – 5/5
Mini-map unlocked.
Exiting the last notification, 'Wow, that's a lot to digest, and as I had expected, not a single question answered.'
Closing his menu for the time being, Mason decided to open his clothes box and see what he had been awarded by the almighty Notifications.
At his feet sat a small box, a parcel wrapped with brown paper tied together with simple white string.
Reaching down to open his glorious reward, he picked it up and eagerly ripped it open; inside, he found precisely what he had wanted, sort of. Staring at the box's contents, he attempted to use his newly acquired 'Identify' skill. Focusing on the item of clothing in front of him whispered, "Identify?"
Item – Basic Underwear – Underwear worn by the various humanoid races of this world, this particular pair is a lovely shade of Salmon Pink.
Effect - Increases' Resilience' by one point.
Rolling his eyes at the description, he stepped into the underwear and pulled them on, Mason did begrudgingly feel a slight relief to be wearing an item of clothing, even if it was a 'lovely' shade of pink, and he wasn't going to say no to any added Resilience.
Looking around, trying and failing to find the Mana and health potions, he had also been awarded, he shrugged it off and reopened his menu, eager to see the changes.
Name: Mason Hughes
Level: 1
Current XP: 1/25
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Health Points (HP): 150
Mana Points (MP): 120
Stamina: (SP): 120
Stats
Strength: 4
Agility: 3
Endurance: 4
Vitality: 5
Resilience: 3 (+1)
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 5
Willpower: 4
Free points: 10
Skills:
Identify (Basic)
Base Skills:
Universal Translator, Inventory (Basic)
Current Quest: No current quests.
Looking over his current stats, he was disappointed, to say the least. Strength and Intelligence 4? Mason had never been a gym rat like a few of the guys he knew from work, but he had always been decently muscular and tried to stay active, so the 4 in Strength stung a little. The 4 in Intelligence felt like a sucker punch; he was an avid reader of fiction and non-fiction and always liked to think he knew a little about everything. He did pretty well in school. He was never top of his class but consistently got A's and B's, though had gotten in trouble a lot for his snark.
"These Stats are Bullshit", he decided out loud; apart from Strength and Intelligence, he didn't really understand what the rest did anyway.
Help
Strength – How much you are physically able to affect the world around you – Governs how much you can carry, how hard you can hit, and most physical combat skills.
Agility - How fast you can run, swim and fight – Governs most movement and combat skills based on speed.
Endurance - How long you can run, swim and fight - Governs maximum SP at 100 Base points +5 SP per point in endurance. Also governs stamina regeneration speed.
Vitality - How resistant you are to poisons and other afflictions that affect the body - - Governs maximum HP at 100 Base points +10 HP per point in Vitality and health regeneration.
Resilience- How difficult you are to physically harm - Governs how effective health points are and any physical armour skills.
Intelligence - how well you can process information gathered from the world around you - Governs maximum MP at 100 Base points +5 MP per point in Intelligence. Also governs most magic-based skills.
Perception- How well you perceive the world around you - Governs skills based on any of your 5 senses or any other senses you may gain.
Willpower - How resistant you are to mental attacks and effects - Governs mana regeneration speed.
"Has there been a help menu this whole time? Help, where am I? Help, how do I get home?"
Nothing happened. "Yeah, figures that wouldn't work."
Looking over his stats again, he threw 5 points into Strength, 3 into Intelligence and the last 2 into Vitality, bringing his current stats to Strength 9, Intelligence 7 and Vitality 7.
Warning! Reallocating stats is impossible before reaching Level 100.
Are you sure you want to make these changes Y/N?
Ignoring the warning and going with his gut, Mason confirmed; feeling a tingly sensation, he braced himself, expecting the worst. After nothing had happened for a few seconds, he started to relax. A wave of nausea and mental fatigue hit him. Pain spread across his body. He felt like he had been up all night studying advanced algebra while simultaneously working out in the gym non-stop. After only a second, it faded, leaving only a slight pain in his head and sore muscles.
"Why does any progress in this fucking game have to feel like I'm constantly being beaten up by a pissed-off ogre." Sitting for a moment to catch his breath and verbally assault the game some more, Mason returned his attention to the matter at hand.
At the bottom of his regular character sheet was a new section.
Level 1 skill selection available.
Available skills:
Piercing Gaze (Basic) – Gaze upon your enemies and strike fear into their hearts.
Active effect: Small chance of damaging an enemy by looking at them, scales with Intelligence and Willpower.
One-handed weapons (Basic) –You won't be fighting dragons anytime soon, but hey, you got to start somewhere.
Passive effect: Unlocks the basic ability to wield and use one-handed weapons such as daggers, short swords, maces Etc.
Magic Bolt (Basic) – Call upon your mystical power and unleash it to strike down your foe.
Active effect: Focus a portion of your Mana into an attack in the form of a bolt of kinetic energy. Damage dependant on Intelligence. Scales with Intelligence.
Taking his time to consider the best option for him in his current situation, he ignored the first 2 skills and immediately picked Magic Bolt.
Do you want to unlock Magic Bolt Skill? Y/N?
"Magic Bolt! Magic Bolt! Magic Bolt!"
Mason felt a rush of information enter his head, giving him everything he needed to know to use the skill. He could now feel the presence of Mana within him, and to a certain degree, he knew he could control the strange energy and focus it on the Magic Bolt. It made his headache worsen slightly, but he ignored it, excited to try out his cool new magic powers.
Closing his menu, he raised his hand and pointed at one of the accursed trees. He could feel something moving through his body, a tickle of what he assumed to be his mana building in pressure at his fingers until it reached its limit, he gave a mental push, and a small blue bolt of energy left him in a burst. Eager to see the damage he had done to one of his sworn enemies, he inspected the tree closely.
While the bolt had hit its target, the damage it had done was underwhelming. He wasn't expecting to knock the giant tree over or even shake it, but he had hoped to do more than chip one piece of the damn thing's bark.
He used Identify on the tree, hoping the description would alleviate his disappointment; perhaps the tree was special, made from magic and was difficult for even the most powerful to…
World Object - Wild Kathan Tree (Common) – A tree found all over the world, not often used for its wood as it tends to break very easily. The leaves at the top of the tree are a common ingredient in Alchemy, used in many concoctions.
"Oh, fuck you!" Mason took a few steps back and once again pointed his hand at the tree shooting off a dozen bolts at the tree in quick succession. As the last one hit the tree, Mason collapsed to the floor.
Status effect: Affliction - Mental exhaustion has been added – Mana regeneration -50%
Barely able to stay awake, Mason opened his menu and saw his Mana was at 0/135. He watched for a full minute before seeing it tick up to 1/135.
'It's good to know that lack of mana will do that to me, I guess, but I would have appreciated a warning.'
Warning! Running too low on Mana or stamina can result in negative afflictions.
Running too low on Health points can result in death. He raised his middle finger to the sky as he shouted, "Not Helpful, dude!"
He lay there on the forest floor for 20 minutes before standing back up, feeling better enough to inspect the tree again.
The tree in question stood as tall as always, glaring down at him mockingly. When Mason approached, he did see more damage to the bark but nothing to write home about. He had shot about 12 bolts at the tree, 13 if you include the first one he had shot. From the damage, he guessed it would probably take 200 – 250 of his bolts before the tree would even be at risk of falling.
Gazing up at the tree, he muttered, "I'll get you next time."
*DING*
Quest Received! TIMBERRRRR
This particular tree has insulted your honour. Gain power, come back and teach it who is boss!
Reward – Small sweet sweet revenge box (Uncommon).
Accept? Y/N
"Fuck yeah, I accept".
The last thing he needed to do before heading off was check his inventory. He tried saying "Inventory" out loud, naturally with zero result. Opening his menu, he scanned it looking for a way to access it. In the very corner of his menu, he saw a small backpack symbol. Mentally clicking it opened a whole new screen, there were 9 squares set out in a 3x3 format. In the first 2 boxes sat his health and mana potions. Closing his menu, he went to retrieve the coin he had discarded earlier and for good measure added the string and packaging from his item box just in case.
Looking around, he finally thought about what to do next. To figure out where he was and what was happening to him, he would need to find some sort of civilisation; failing that, some water source would be a good start too.
Remembering that one of his notifications had mentioned a mini-map, he opened his menu, and right there at the top was a tab with the word Map. Opening it showed a large blacked-out area with a small path of colour that must have been the path he had walked so far. While useful, it didn't show him anything new. Closing the map, he picked a direction and started walking.
Every so often, he stopped and reopened his map to inspect his progress; after toying around with it a few times, he figured out he could zoom in, allowing him to see more detail of his surrounding area and the areas that he had walked. He also found he could exit his menu but keep the map up in the corner of his vision, hence the name mini-map.
He kept walking, keeping his mini-map zoomed in enough to see any changes to his immediate surroundings. A few times, he caught a glimpse of blue on the map, only for it to turn out to be patches of the blue grass he had seen earlier.
After walking for another half hour, he was starting to give up hope when he came across another glimpse of blue on the map, but this time it came with the sound of running water. Deciding that today may not be the day he dies, he ran towards the noise. Squeezing between two trees to get to the clearing where the river was.
As soon as he stepped into the clearing, he was mesmerised by the river of crystal-clear water. Complete with a beautiful waterfall that had been the main source of the noise that had drawn him there. The waterfall was only about 15 feet high but was a welcome sight as he remembered hearing that while in nature, you could drink running water with less chance of getting salmonella or E coli.
Mason stepped towards the water and saw his reflection for the first time since this whole thing began. Staring into the water, amazed by the subtle differences to his physique. He had definitely gained a bit of muscle and thought he might even be an inch taller but the biggest difference with his eyes. He looked harder at the reflection, moving his head closer to the water; his eyes appeared to be glowing yellow. Wait. Those weren't his eyes.
The yellow orbs in the water, he had thought were his eyes, got bigger until the creature they were attached to became clearer. Backing away as fast as he could. He watched as the beast lumbered out of the water slowly. The giant lizard, resembling a Komodo dragon, heaved itself up out of the water, as tall as a monster truck, with stumpy legs as thick as tree trunks. Its yellow eyes never left his direction.
The lizard didn't move immediately. It just stood there. Watching him.
"Identify", Mason whispered as quietly as possible, doing everything he could to not provoke the beast further.
Beast – Level 21 Giant Drake – These temperamental creatures are extremely territorial. If you come across one, you better hope it doesn't see you. Too bad for you; this one has 100% seen you.
*DING*
Mandatory Quest Received! – Giant Drake, Giant Problem - You have wandered into the territory of a Giant Drake, the way it sees things, it now has the right to kill and eat you.
Quest Objective - Survive.
Reward - Continued existence.
Blinking away the messages, Mason slowly stood up.
"Good giant lizard. You're okay. I'm just going to, very slowly, back away. And not be eaten."
The lizard's face changed slightly.
"Did you just fucking smirk at me?"
The Drake charged.