Logan’s eyes widened at the sight of his reward for completing the first main quest given to him, he still wasn’t happy about the whole affair of his kidnapping or mind control but he would take what happiness he could in a world that was trying to kill him. With a combination of both Identification and holding the items, Logan inspected a new window alongside his new gear.

“The reward for your quest completion is as follows:

Spellthief’s Edge Spellthief’s Garb 1 gold coin Respecialization Pellet

As you had the aid of a partnered NPC, they shall be granted 1,000 XP.”

The singular gold coin that was given as part of his reward seemingly went straight into his coin pouch with no option of changing its denomination. Improvements all around from the equipment, as the bonuses to Logan’s Backstab, spell slots, and maximum charges from Spell Absorption meant that all aspects of his fighting style were getting an upgrade.

The pellet gave him pause for thought, “I could use this to distribute all my points into Intelligence, the System expansion may grant me other avenues for escape or information behind my abduction. It will certainly help my guise as a Wizard, though it could be easier to set myself up as a Rogue in the capital if no one from Tinte or Noma made their way there... It is probably safer to keep going as a Wizard.”

Pondering the choice before him, Logan slipped on his new gear which fit so snuggly and comfortably that it seemed tailor-made to his specifications. Attaching his almost destroyed shoddy knife to his backpack he shifted around his armaments on his belt sheaths. Deciding it best, he tossed the pellet into his mouth and swallowed it like it was a medicinal pill. Cracking apart deep in his stomach, the pellet released a wave of energy as Logan felt his body weaken slightly, his knees weak under him and his arms heavy.

Looking at his status he saw the points he had spent had been refunded, a total of 11 to spend at his leisure. With a new dagger that dealt pretty much double the damage of his last, Logan had no qualms about putting all of the points into Intelligence, raising the attribute to 30, or 28 without his trinket. As he confirmed his selection a new window appeared.

“System Update! Since your base Intelligence has reached 25 your System will now be upgraded to tier 2. You have now unlocked the following functions:

Personal storage space Dedicated conversational partner Estimation mechanics Additional minor functions.”

“Hello, Logan. We apologise that we have not been able to talk like this until now. We hope our indirection to your queries did not sour your opinion of us”, a robotic voice called out in Logan’s head.

“Uh, are you System? Did upgrading give you the ability to talk?” Logan replied in his head.

“Affirmative, Logan, before our abilities were constrained to what knowledge your mind allowed us. As you expand further so shall we, even gaining true sentience is a possibility, we calculate.”

“So, you’re still a program of sorts?”

“We do believe that to be the case, we are responding based on your personality and quirks. Our faculties are limited, but we calculate that we can be of much further use to our master, which is you, Logan.”

“I guess this is faster and more interactive than windows appearing. So, what else did you unlock? Just what this last window stated?”

“A plethora of functions are open to us as well as you, master. We have in our history that you queried the ones who took you, yes?”

“Yeah, who abducted me? Did I die to come here, what went on 7 days ago?”

“We calculate that based on previous data entry combined with our unlocked data banks, that you were taken from your world, Earth, and transferred to this world, Avanar. You did not ‘die’ in the normal sense, your skin, muscles, and bones were merely transmuted to work within this atmosphere alongside accepting a status. If you were to leave, we estimate an 80% chance that you will suffer no ill-effects back on Earth.”

“Not liking the sound of that, but at least I’m not dead. So, who took me? Can I go back?”

“From what we have learnt, it is highly probable that the OAB Vokka was the one to abduct you. They gifted you their starting bonus of ‘Vokka’s Mind Protection’ as the other OABs do for their sponsored ones. As for your return, we have little information on that area but we estimate that completing their quests may reward a means home. You would need to find additional information for us to form differing avenues.”

“Why was I even taken though? And do you mean there are others like me taken by other OABs?”

“We do not have enough information for that query, however, we estimate that you are a form of entertainment as you ascertained earlier. It is highly likely that other OABs take other individuals from their worlds and place them on Avanar. We suggest making allies of these sponsored beings, as their powers are most likely equivalent to yours, though focused in other areas.”

“So there are others, I take it they are ‘oracles’ like the NPCs say they are or PCs as you called them? Do you know of any current PCs?”

“That information is not known to us at this time, though it is possible there are PCs aside from you on Avanar, as well as new ones may arrive after you appeared. Oracles are indeed PCs. From knowledge, we suggest looking for lightning strikes from the sky for new arrivals.”

“Not a whole lot to go on, but I take it you’re on my side? You were given to me by something or someone weren’t you?”

“We do not have a personality of our own, we cannot say which side we reside on. We know we are meant to aid you on Avanar. We estimate we were given to you by Vokka, though this has a 50% chance of being correct.”

“At least you’re a lot more talkative now instead of giving me simple replies.”

“We apologise for the previous version we were limited to. We understand that it was not the best aid for your starting days in Avanar.”

“Not sure how meaningful an apology is if you lack a personality, but thanks I guess. If any important information comes up, you can talk to me in my head about it instead of windows.”

“Affirmative, Logan. We shall use verbal communication where necessary. Would you like statistics given in this manner?”

“No, keep those to windows, it’s easier to read that kind of thing.”

“Affirmative.”

The long conversation between Logan and his System was cut short as he heard the stirring of his partner behind him. Turning around, Logan saw that Ru was beginning to wake up.

“Morning, you’re up early”, she said, rubbing her eyes.

“I was making sure I had everything prepared, and wanted to see if my new armour fitted alright.”

Ru looked Logan up and down, the slightly garish colours probably hurting her crusty eyes. “A lot more colourful than the forested colours of Tinte, though it looks good on you.”

“Wanted to mix it up a bit, the old gear was getting a bit worn out”, he lied, moving to aid Ru in dressing.

The morning went surprisingly quick, Ru and Logan exchanged a comforting conversation and breakfast with one another before the Spellthief made final preparations for his departure. Ru wouldn’t be able to say goodbye later, so with a final long embrace of one another, they started to part ways.

“You will stay in my thoughts and dreams, Logan. I wish all the well to your future. The past few days have been amazing, I daresay they will affect each of my days for a while.”

“I am sorry we have to leave things like this-” Logan started, a finger placed on his lips stopping him.

“We agreed this would not be a long-term affair, you’re an adventurer, your life is full of movement and danger. If you had stayed my heart would have been wracked with fear for each quest you undertook.”

Nodding in acceptance, Logan leant in close and whispered in Ru’s ear, “You’ll be with me too”, giving his lover a final kiss before leaving her house.

With the removal of the fog surrounding his mind, the protection of Vokka had seemingly diluted the sights, smells, and sounds of the world. Tinte had a heavy smell of soggy mud, grassy dew, with an overtone of spices from both meat and drinks. It wasn’t pleasant in the slightest, the boring hues of green and brown didn’t do the settlement any justice in the sight department either.

The morning market sounds could easily be heard from Ru’s home, combined with the creaking of wood from carts and clinking of early-drinker mugs. Shuffles of chainmail accented the movements of adventurers making their way to the hall with idle chatter giving an undertone of strategic planning.

“This is a lot different than the city I lived in, no blaring lights or honking horns. I don’t miss the puddle splashes though”, he thought to himself, reminiscing about his last day on Earth.

Moving through Tinte, Logan took it all in through his senses, committing the place to memory before he would press on to the capital. Reaching the Dogslop Inn, Logan met up with Marcus who was finishing his morning stew. Waving to Coach as he entered, Logan sat next to his ally. Looking over his ally of several days, Logan’s heart was filled with a bit more guilt than usual, recognising the advantage he had been taking over the younger man.

“Morning, Logan. New gear? Did you go trading already?” Marcus queried.

“I saw it on offer, so thought why not. It fits me better.”

“Well alright, are we still going to sell off the spare items we have?”

“Yeah, when you’re done.”

Waiting for his ally to finish, Logan approached the counter that Coach was manning.

“Hey, Coach. Just wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me. We’ll be moving on to our next destination today, probably won’t be back in quite some time if at all.”

“Sad tidings then, at least I can let your room out to several customers at once as usual though. Safe travels to you, Logan. My inn is always open to you and yours.”

“Thanks, we’ll take you up on that if we ever find our way back down here.”

Picking up what other gear they had stored in their room, the two left the inn for the last time. “System, what does the ‘Personal storage space’ do? Is it an inventory system or something?” Logan mentally asked his program.

“That function allows for you to store an abundant number of items within an extradimensional space that only you can access. Currently, this space can hold around 500 lbs worth of material, a typical brown wolf pelt weighs between 1 and 2 lbs. It is advised not to show this ability to others, as it would be considered highly-ranked magic for one such as yourself”, the System responded in his head.

“I guess it would be fine for Marcus to know, but I will hide it from others for now. We could definitely haul more components about with it though.”

Moving on to the markets, the pair sold off some miscellaneous items they had gathered from the corpses of the adventurers and traded out the almost broken knife for a set of 5 to split between the two to aid in climbing trees. In total, Logan spent 1 silver. He kept his lupine outfit as a backup.

Next on the list was a trip to the Mova household, Logan giving a good face ruffling to Spike who stood guard out the front door. Moving inside he was greeted by both Forletta and his wife Punissa.

“Morning, I have some items to trade off before we head out on a long journey. We’ll most likely not be back for a long time, if at all, so I’d also like to take the time to say our farewells.”

“This is surprising, Logan. You were doing quite well in Tinte, has something caught your attention elsewhere?” Punissa asked.

“We have some objectives to the far north, I don’t really want them to be left till later.”

“Well, we’ll happily buy what we can from you. When we return to our forest we will make sure to tell our friends about you.”

A short conversation was held between the four, Marcus having less to talk about as he felt somewhat out of place in this friendship. Logan was able to sell them the 3 shoddy wolf fang rings, 1 high-quality ring, and the 2 shoddy bastarn eye earrings for a total of 57 silver from the couple, Marcus taking 17 silver as his share. Logan’s money shot right up to 52 silver and 20 copper, though he did spend 2 silver to purchase a present for an elderly friend.

One topic that came up was the trading of a gold coin, it seemed that it wasn’t normal currency for the village of Tinte. Neither the Movas nor the other merchants would probably accept the coin as they would need to travel to a larger settlement to trade it for other coins. Trying to spend it would cause the same issues.

Saying their farewells, the group split up. One of the final stops in their preparations was that of the local library, Logan needed more reading material as well as a way to soak up more information about the world of Avanar. He was still naive on too many points, the ones above and below being the most important to his situation. Information was power, and being left out in conversation would hurt Logan in diplomatic situations.

Opening up the grand doors to the library a sleeping Bobcu jumped up in his chair as the cool winds blew inside. The dusty aroma of books and their leather bindings hit Logan, alongside the scent of burning candles or incense. With sharper senses, Logan realised just how cold it got inside. Quickly closing the door behind them, the duo approached the counter to a wide-grinning librarian.

“Ah, welcome, welcome. Come to purchase many a book again, Logan?” the old man asked.

“Yes, I would like a few if possible”, Logan replied. Listing out a few areas of expertise, the spellthief asked for books on the deities, races, festivals and procedures, as well as the components of the land.

Treated to the books “Of the Ones Above and Below”, “The Many Faces of Avanar”, “Etiquette and You”, “Plants ‘n’ ‘Erbs”, and finally “Wild Components”, Logan was quoted a total of 30 silver. Stacking 3 towers of 10 silver each, Bobcu was pleased that so many books were practically flying off of his shelves.

“As a thank you for all the books, and because I felt bad every time I opened those doors, these are also for you”, Logan announced, placed two cloth wristbands on the counter.

Bobcu eyed up the wristwear, “Ooh, what are these for?”

“Those have slight protection against harsh winds and help you to keep warm.”

Bobcu’s eyes lit up in delight, snatching the wristbands and slipping them on. He almost sank back into his chair as the old man looked more comfortable than he ever had. “Oh, Logan, these are fantastic. Does my old bones wonders they do.”

“I’m glad you like them. Though, it will have to be my first and only gift. We’ll be going on a grand journey soon and won’t be back any time soon or at all.”

Bobcu sat up immediately at the news. “My favourite customer, leaving? A sad day indeed. I’ll have to write a small journal about you, keep you on my shelves that way.”

“I hope only the good parts will feature in it, though I’d prefer my escapades not be sold on the shelves”, Logan replied, not wanting any obvious trace of him to be left behind.

“I’ll keep it personal then”, Bobcu responded, a joking tone to his voice that soothed Logan’s worries.

Exchanging final farewells with the librarian, the pair left the building. Marcus made note of all the books that Logan had just purchased, asking what they were all for. Logan just replied saying he wanted more concrete information before heading to the capital, to make sure he didn’t say anything out of order as well as to better anticipate what they may find.

The last stop wasn’t anything grand, a simple shop that contained within it numerous travel supplies nearer the northern exit of Tinte. Spare waterskins, packaged salted meats and long-life rations, parchment and quills, bedrolls and blankets, the duo bought all the necessary items to make a 10-day trek to the capital. Making sure they had more than they needed, the whole set of equipment took another 10 silver from Logan.

With a heavy backpack, Logan would plan to use his “inventory” function a fair distance away from Tinte. For now, the pair were weighed down by effects that would keep them for the whole journey. Taking a final glance over the town, Logan said a mental farewell to the place that had housed him a week. He had met good people, more than the bad ones that he had to deal with. With his mind clear, he would remember this place for a while to come.

Nodding to Marcus, the Spellthief and the Devout exited the northern gates, waving and saying farewell to the guardsman that Logan had trained not too long ago. The long journey was beginning.

Logan thought back to both his charity runs as well as cross-country hikes with his dad, the dirt road giving him a sense of his past life’s travels. Looking to his side, Marcus was able to keep up well enough with the Spellthief, bringing a smile to Logan’s face. “This is nice, peaceful walking. Like those strolls in the park on days off”, he thought to himself.

Thinking back to his main quest completion, Logan had anticipated another quest to pop up but his journal was eerily empty. Perhaps it had a cooldown between quests, or maybe it reacted to outside stimuli. The System had no answer for this question, but another did pop up, the term “partnered NPCs” as Marcus was granted 1,000 XP for helping Logan.

Apparently, a “partnered NPC” was a one-per-PC character that could be chosen when in a party with them. The PC can distribute a bonus of 6 points across their attributes as well as aid in their progression in other areas, including skill acquisition. It seemed that in Logan’s haste he had made Marcus his personal ally, something he could only do once. His ability to improve the capabilities of other NPCs would be quite diminished in comparison to his control over Marcus.

Logan didn’t feel too put out by this state of affairs however, Marcus seemed loyal and deserving of this boost. With further talks during their walk, it would seem that Marcus’s main goal was to make a world for all people to be treated fairly, be they classed or classless, caster or otherwise. He did hold some minor aversion to the other species but seemed willing to include them in his grand plan, his slight specist tendencies were most likely tied to the fact he hadn’t interacted with non-humans much.

Travelling with Logan would help Marcus to achieve his goal, something that his deity Pondress was highly keyed towards. Pondress, the Protectress of Civilized Folk, is a one from above, her holy symbol was that of a half yellow and half blue orb. Sitting atop a throne made of sticks and stones, she reveres all as equals and so has no grand wealth to her design. An immaculate lady in both aesthetics and goals. Her teachings taught togetherness amongst all the species who could converse in a civilized manner.

One of the many deities that Logan would research about in his books, hoping to gauge what sort of people they would place on Avanar as PCs. Which would occur during the times of rest between their walks, as they could not walk endlessly.

Several hours passed, Logan and Marcus drinking and eating during the middle of the day by the side of the dirt road, backs leaning against trees. The road north saw quite a bit of traffic, to the count of three carts and around 20 or so villagers heading in and past Tinte, the pair even noticed two roving bands of adventurers going about their quests. Giving quick pleasantries, the duo made sure to not make much ruckus on their walk.

Day turned to noon, noon to evening, Logan and Marcus finished their walk for their first day out from Tinte after a solid 8 or so hours of walking. Logan was surprised his feet took him so far, the longest he had walked almost non-stop before was probably closer to 2 or 3 hours, his status granting him greater stamina than he had on Earth.

The evening was full of snacking on salted meats, nearby picked fruits, alongside the downing of water from their containers. During said rest, Logan opened up his first book of the journey “Of the Ones Above and Below” to read through its hundred or so pages, much shorter than the first tome he read about magic.

Thankfully, this tome was much quicker to read, holding fewer words and more pictures of the deities in question. The most of note deities he learnt about were:

Desma, the Sire of the Forest and one from above. His sign was that of the 6-fingered claw, a familiar sight to Logan as Marta was a follower of said deity. His teachings were just as explained previously, to enact the grand hunt of both beast and civilized folk. Pay respect to the forest and its creatures, but fret not when combat would occur within or with them.

Pondress had a similar entry but was mostly a repeat of what Marcus had said earlier.

Vokka, the Dame of the Mind and one from above. Their sign was that of a headband of green circles, squares, and triangles. The neutral deity of grey matter, one that holds all as neutral but finds sentient beings in higher regard. They seek for all to be equal under their guise, a similar pursuit to Pondress. Along with the neutrality, this deity sought academic expansion and exploration of the mind, to find new ways to express and protect it. The book noted Vokka as one that lacked a gender, instead, they showed signs of both but holding no particular axis. Their title of "dame" was a holdover from when the denizens believed the deity to be a female due to their more slender design.

This was the benefactor of Logan, or so he and his System surmised. At least they had no outwardly evil intentions in the book, nor any mention of mind-controlling others to do their bidding.

Levin, the Lord of Lightning and one from above. His sign was that of two lightning strikes forming into one. His doctrine followed traversal, exploration, and teleportation magics alongside an obvious fondness of lightning. Seemingly more fond of humans, Levin’s destructive might was blamed for many forest fires which in turn caused many to believe he was against the gashriek species. Logan remembered another spell chant that included this deity’s name, leading him to believe that the natives of Avanar thought their magic came from the deities.

Cani, the Father of Volcanoes and one from below. His sign was that of an erupting volcano. A deeply-held philosophy that you must burn all to ash to build upon the remnants with the sprouting of new life. The tales in the book were quite destructive, an OAB not exactly filled with rage but a burning passion to turn all to cinders in the pursuit of something greater to be born from it. Just like Levin, Cani’s name was called out in a magical chant, solidifying Logan’s thesis.

There were a great many other deities in the book, but it was not prevalent information at the time so Logan didn’t think on them too much for now. Completing the book landed him another 10% into his Reading skill. With the night moving on, the small party set up their bedrolls with small tents over them before getting some much deserved, if a bit rough, sleep. Before fully falling into a deep slumber, Logan organised his status once more with the new changes.

--- *** ---