Chapter 3 - Rules of the Game

With Faeren gone, Urvi and I were alone once again. I looked around my surroundings and noticed that we were in a clearing. A line of trees encircled us with just one gigantic oak tree sitting in the middle. Small stone structures littered the grass, giving it a long-forgotten realm vibe to it.

"So… A new world, huh?" Urvi asked. Her eyes looked sad as she stared into the distance.

"Urvi. It is okay. We might be able to return once we complete the…" I said.

"No. It is really okay," she replied. Her eyes, however, told me it was not.

There was only one person in this world she cared about more than anyone. So, when she is told that she can't see her anymore, I expected more than a – It is okay.

"What really happened between you and your daughter?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about it. Please," she said.

I didn't pry. She would eventually open up, but there was no doubt that the mystery continued to gnaw away at my brain.

She held her arms apart. Lifting her head into the sky, with a wide smile on her face, she took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"I am sad but also happy. I want to cry, but also want to laugh." She then fell quiet. I let her breathe, not interrupt her moment of serenity. "I am reborn."

She dropped her arms and turned around. She crossed her legs and swayed her hip to her right. Spreading her arms slightly, she shot a seductive look at me and asked, "How do I look?"

What can I say? Even before she came here, she was the prettiest woman I had ever met. She stood five foot six inches tall and had what many would describe as a mom's body. It was not fat, but also not exactly lean. It is exactly the kind of shape I like. Her hips were huge, and her d-size bell breasts were what men dream of. Her dark black hair complemented her fair white skin. Her pearly black eyes adorned a chubby, round face. She was a picturesque Indian housewife, only a lot prettier. That was of course, before we came here. She still had the same face, and her proportions did not change. Only her belly was flat, and her waist was curvy. Her arms and legs remained thick as oatmeal, only now they looked muscular and flexed hard. Her breasts had inflated, just enough to upgrade them to double D's, and black hair now flowed down to her hips.

"What can I say? I didn't believe goddesses existed until I saw you," I said.

Her smile widened, brimming with confidence. "I am your goddess."

***

We took a seat on two short stone pillars. Both of us had our journals out as we tried to make sense of its contents.

The very first page had basic details about me.

Name - Karna

Age - 26

Height - 6'4"

Weight - 84 Kgs

Race - Human

Class - ??

Level - 1

"What is class?" Urvi asked. It was as though she read my mind.

"Class can mean many things, but usually, it refers to your style of combat and such."

I flipped over the page, which contained the table of contents. They were - Stats, Skills, Map, Journal, and Guide.

I immediately jumped to the Map section. Like any curious mind, I wanted to know what this world held for us. However, all it had was a circle with a tree in the middle.

I sighed in disappointment. But then I noticed something else. There was a house symbol printed on the tree. I turned around and looked at the old oak. "Urvi, can you check your map?"

I heard the flipping of the pages. "Empty. Except for a picture of a tree," she said.

"Do see the house in the tree?" I asked.

She took a moment to reply. "Oh yeah!"

We walked up to the tree, whose trunk was at least twelve feet wide. It was on the shorter side and somewhat looked scalable. But its branches spread tall and wide, like the majestic tree of life whose arms reached all corners of the universe. "Want to climb up?" I asked Urvi.

The skin of the trunk appeared to be shedding. There were several nooks and crannies littered all around the surface, giving us enough options to cling onto and climb it. As we made it to the top, we were greeted by a small hollow burrow dub into the top of the tree. It wasn't too deep, just enough to cover itself back up, protecting the inside from rain and elements outside. As we climbed in, the floor and walls were covered by soft moss. There was enough place for more than four people to sneak in and live comfortably.

I laid down in the center, the moss tickling my back as I did. Urvi too laid down beside me, all this while having a wide smile on her face. "This is wonderful. We even have a house for ourselves!" She said.

"Don't get comfy. Unless you want to spend eternity in this... paradise?" I asked. It seems like I have confused myself.

"Relax darling. Isn't that great? Besides, there is adventure out there." She flipped open the book and continued reading it.

***

The stats page of the journal contained five attributes - Attack, defense, speed, special attack, and special defense. Each of them was assigned ten points for me.

"How much each stat for you?" I asked Urvi.

"Ten. Each of them."

Level - 1

Health - 40

Attack - 10

Defense - 10

Speed - 10

Special Attack - 10

Special Defense - 10

"Looks like all start from the same point."

"This is good. Unlike that other game of yours. Had an Excel sheet hiding in that menu," she said mockingly.

"Hold on. Turn the page."

She did as I told her, and her jaw dropped. She was starting at what she fear the most, an Excel sheet. "What is all this?"

Fifteen stats and each of them had five points allocated.

Strength - 5

Stamina - 5

Dexterity - 5

Recovery - 5

In-grain - 5

Intelligence - 5

Perception - 5

Charisma - 5

Confidence - 5

Resilience - 5

Empathy - 5

Faith - 5

Valor - 5

Adoration - 5

Compassion - 5

"Your worst nightmare," I said.

"We really have to fill every single one of these?" She asked.

"Let me see..." I flipped over to the guide and took a quick glance at the stats section. "Your normal stats, such as attack and defense, increase with your level. But you get 5 stat points for special stats every time you level up. But it also auto gains points when you use that stat in real world."

She looked at the stats once more before commenting, "This is going to be a pain in my ass."

I flipped another page and found myself looking at the skills page. It was a table with six columns and five rows, with a sketch of me on the other page. On the top of the page was the number "2" printed. Must be the number of skill points I have.

"Look at that… Mini-me," she said with a wide grin.

"Interesting observation..." I replied.

"What does each of these skills do? And why are some of them greyed out?"

The last two rows were greyed out. "I think we must unlock a specific number of skills before the others open up. And what does each of these do? Each has a description in the guide."

"Great… More reading…" She grunted. "So, which one do we pick?" She asked.

"Let's give it some more thought. I want to see what we might be good at before picking one."

"I thought you already picked them. You were going to be the paladin and I was going to be a sorceress," She said.

"Still…" I am extremely careful when it comes to assigning points to my skills. "We don't know if we can reset it."

"You mean to say we are stuck with what we choose?"

"Yup."

"In that case, yeah. Let's take our time."

***

Daylight was fading. It was going to be dusk soon and we hadn't even left the starting area. So engrossed we were in preparations that we didn't even bother getting out of the hollow till we realized that it was going to be night soon.

"Damn. Feels like we just arrived, and it is already evening," she said.

With the waning light, venturing out was pointless. We planned to start weapon practice in the evening. That was obviously a bad idea. So, we postponed the plan to early morning. Practice first and do homework later.

I laid back against the slanting floor that melded into the wall. Urvi lay on top of me, resting her back against my chest. The night was warm, and the cool breeze made us drowsy.

"We don't even know when we arrived. For all we know it has been just a few hours," I said.

Urvi didn't say anything for a while. "It feels so weird living like this. Like a nomad."

"It does. I hope you are liking it as much as I am," I said.

"Can't say for sure. I just hope I don't wake up tomorrow morning wanting to go back home."

Okay, that thought never crossed my head. Maybe it is just the excitement, covering up the laziness and depression I had been experiencing every day for the past three years. "God! I hope not."

It was the break of dawn. The chirping of birds filled the air and streams of sunlight cut through the canopy of leaves. The night felt short, as usual, but the laziness and exhaustion that bore itself into my bones in the other world seemed to have vanished.

Urvi and I jumped down from our nest and onto the ground, whose grass still carried the fresh morning dew. The air was filled with the scent of spring.

"I don't think I have ever got up this early in the morning," I commented as I began to do some basic stretches.

"Yes, of course. Clearly, you were a pampered baby," Urvi replied as she walked over to me carrying a weapon in each of her hands. The weight of both weapons was not a joke. The claymore weighed almost five kilos while the axe was almost seven. Yet, she carried them around like it was nobody's business.

"You know that is not true," I said. I wore a faint frown as I took the claymore from her.

"I am sorry," she said. She knew well how bad my life had been with my family. Ever since my mother died, no one ever stood by my side. Not even my own father. She walked back a few feet and said, "How about we get started then?"

She held onto her axe with both her arms and extended it forward. She spread her legs getting into a base stance. I immediately noticed that she was holding her axe wrong. 

"Dear. That is a one hand axe. The handle is too short," I said. 

She glanced at the axe once more and said, "Is that so?" She dropped her left hand and tried to steady her right-hand grip on the axe. I could tell from the way she was holding it, that this felt a lot better. 

"Don't use your wrist. Rely more on your arm and biceps to put the power into your swing," I added.

"Okay..." she tried again. She went back to her previous stance, however, with a one-handed weapon, she felt uncomfortable with how she stood. Her mind instinctually adjusted her stance to better fit the new weapon. The space between her legs was reduced and her torso was now less twisted. She put her right leg forward and swung the axe up with less power but more control. She followed up the upward swing by turning around, letting the axe guide her. She then proceeded to swing it above her, before bringing it down onto the ground with a generous amount of power.

By the time she was done, she had a big smile on her face. "Did you see that!" she asked as she stood up. "That felt amazing!"

I nodded my head in approval. "You work great with an axe."

She looked at the axe and said, "This feels good!"

She got back into practicing the axe, trying to get used to it as much as possible before we ventured out into the forest. I, myself, decided to do the same. I had my right hand on the handle, trying to get a feel for it. Even though I had never used one, I expected to get accustomed to it. But for some reason, I didn't find the same connection Urvi found with her axe and this made me a little nervous.

I started with some basic swings and slashes. They looked to be on point and should get the job done, but something felt off.

***

Urvi dropped the axe, panting with a big smile on her face. Sweat poured down every inch of her skin, soaking her bare minimum clothes. She turned to see me still swinging the sword like an amateur.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

I put the claymore down, resting on my leg. "I don't know. Something doesn't feel right," I said.

Urvi looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I am just not finding the connection with the sword."

"Maybe the sword isn't for you," she said.

"That can't be. I love the sword. I always did."

Urvi fell quiet.

I sighed dully before dropping the claymore to the ground.

"Say. Didn't you say something about class being about our fight style?" Urvi said.

"Oh yeah. But the class was undetermined."

"Maybe we need to pick one."

I had read about it in the guide. "We can't pick right now. We need to wait till we reach level 10."

"Hmm…" Urvi rubbed her chin and replied, "and the fairy said we level up to 10 before leaving."

She did. "I guess we choose our class after fighting and figuring out what works for us, huh?" I said.

"Sounds reasonable to me."

"In that case, how about we finally go out and venture into the forest?"

"Oh, most delightfully!" She replied with a nasty smile. She turned around and grabbed onto her axe, swinging it around just one more time. "Let's fucking go!"

"But where exactly do we go?" She asked.

"Faeren said the training ground was ten kilometers from this point. I guess we are free to go in any direction we want."

"Okay... Then which direction do we start?"

"Hmm..." I looked around us and all directions looked the same. The map was not helpful either. Any place we hadn't explored didn't appear on it. I am guessing we have to find pieces of it scattered all around us. "Since the exit to this place is up north, how about we head in the opposite direction? Down south."

"Sounds good to me. But which way is south?"

"Oh yeah..." I pulled out the journal that was tucked in on the side, hoping that the guide had an answer to this simple question. After flipping through a bunch of pages and navigating through paragraphs of texts, I reached the line that read - "find north on the back of the book." Is that it? I flipped the book around to see a pretty design etched into the leather. But I didn't understand how it was going to help me. That was until I began moving the book and I realized the design was an artistic representation of a starry sky. One symbol in the design is particularly interesting. It moved very differently than the other artwork. It was the North Star!

I stretched my arm out and moved the journal in that direction until the symbol reached the top of the book. That was north.

"That's fucking cool!" Urvi said peeping over my shoulder.

"This way is north. So, we go in the opposite direction," I replied.

"Lead the way, master!" She said, still grinning. She swung the axe over her shoulder while I held onto the claymore uneasily.

The two of us proceeded to walk into what I could only describe as a thick dense forest.