New habilities

Dressed in the armor, everything was starting to feel a bit more like a game than a wild survival reality show. The armor was comfortable even with the stiffness of wearing it; it wouldn't protect him from every blow, but if he had worn it during the test in the coliseum, he would have avoided many injuries, especially to his arms and legs.

A serious wound to the arm could cause you to drop your weapon, and a serious wound to the leg could leave you in a life-or-death situation that you couldn't escape from. It was undoubtedly an advantage to face the next tests that awaited him in this tutorial.

Next was the Rat King's essence. When Ikky opened it, another blue light came out of the essence, invading his body.

The effect wasn't spectacular, but it gave him a magnificent +1 to dexterity. This added up to a total of 15... It wasn't a drastic change. He didn't feel like he was flying, but there was something about his body, it was a little better, a little more flexible, a little faster, every movement seemed a little easier. The hours had gone from being a clumsy guy with a body that didn't respond to his commands to a nimble, very agile person.

The best way to describe Ikky's mood is that he was elated.

He was no novice when it came to video games, and while he was surprised by the variety of skills available, none of them were combat skills, just "common" skills. He quickly searched through all of them to see if there was something like tracking; indeed, there was, so he chose it without hesitation.

Knowing how to read footprints can warn you of the number of enemies, but more importantly, it can lead you to hidden pieces that you wouldn't otherwise discover, and that was one way to start making a difference. It was a good way to start his work.

For the second skill, however, he allowed himself to be a little more creative. The future was written in simple letters: detect magic. Searching for loot or treasure always had something difficult: how would you detect and differentiate a common and fragile sword from a powerful sword? Because of its simple appearance, no, that was just a way to waste time... How would you avoid that curse or that trap that is not mechanical? Or, how would you discover that magic door if all you see are normal walls?

The doubt arose with the third, first aid or blurred vision. The first would allow him to stop bleeding and heal a cut, in the fight against the rats he was almost bleeding to death; the second would allow him a slight vision even in the dark... For his survival, I found the second more useful.

He had seen how his experience hitting with the spear had transformed into a skill, if the game worked like that, why wouldn't it be the same with a skill like first aid. Although Ikky was no expert, he would know how to make a tourniquet, or even how to clean a wound or splint an arm. Perhaps if he put his previous knowledge into practice, he would create the skill. However, it was impossible for him to be able to see in the dark or in the shadows. He was not a cat and he would have to spend much more time than the game allowed him in those circumstances to really get used to seeing in the dark. The decision was the right one, or so Ikky thought.

He had also always wondered what a character in a game should do when he needed a flashlight to see in the dark. Leave his weapon in its holster or leave his shield behind; neither of these options is practical or convenient. Being blind, the feeling of not being able to distinguish not enemies, but the simple obstacles in front of you, was a way of walking towards death.

With the third skill, despite not knowing exactly what it was for in this world, or if it was useful, and also with a low starting level he could not expect great things, but he did leave evidence of something: magic existed in this new world, and he had a door to be the first to experience it.

The choice of weapon was easier. He had a medium range weapon, a spear, and given his reluctance to choose a sword, the choice was easy: either a blunt weapon or a hand axe, he opted for the latter. A hand axe was based on simple and strong blows, but with the possibility of cutting and therefore penetrating the enemy even if they were wearing armor or had a hard shell.

Dressed in gladiator armor, his shield, the Spear and the Hand Axe, he was no longer a poor human waiting for death, now he seemed like a player immersed in a fantasy world. It was strange but those rewards and feelings of progress experienced firsthand were even better than when playing from outside with a character.

Many times, the first experience with a game marks the entire time playing it, if you started well you encouraged yourself to continue, however an initial failure could lead you to neglect and indifference.

Certainly, he had survived Coliseum; Even he, for the first time in his life, could say that he had been the best, if what Data had said was true, although thinking about the previous fight, being injured and almost eaten by a rat was not a pleasant experience, it was truly terrifying.

Ikky was thinking about other players, it had to have been a difficult time. Rats may not be the toughest enemies to encounter, but fighting a pack of them had to have pushed many players beyond the limits of fear and pain.

How would the injured players end up being eaten alive by a pack of rats? Surely they would be traumatized... He didn't think the human mind was prepared to overcome the feeling of death so easily.

Pain was another factor that surprised Ikky. I don't think that in this game they had calculated the impact that pain would have on the minds of the players, maybe it was too realistic, maybe if they didn't change that in the future many potential players would back out, who would pay to suffer pain, to be afraid, to be eaten alive? Only crazy people would spend money on something like that.

Nobody was used to fighting to the death with beasts, not constantly, not with 5 rats, much less with 10 or 20, really the realism of that game was a madness typical of a sick mind.

Luck was a real factor in the game as in life. If there hadn't been pulpits, Ikky was sure that most would probably die in the fight, although he was proud of his performance he surely wouldn't be the only player who had used the scenario to his advantage.

Also if it hadn't been for the choice of the spear at the beginning, he would have died trying to wield a sword or any other weapon among a crowd of rabid rats. He could feel satisfied, his lack of skill had made him cautious, had made him choose the means in which his safety prevailed over bravery, and that had been the key to his victory.

I know that this could seem like a lot of reflections for a simple game, however realistic it was; however, it was important to take perspective and stop to think, any detail, anything could be important to continue advancing safely.

Surely the following tests would be worse, and these would try to take the players to the limits of their experience and skill. It was impossible for a cheater to grow and improve without stopping for a second to think about everything.

He could survive... That was the true reward of this first phase for Ikky, the certainty that he had some chance of survival.

"Data, let's move on to the next phase."