The world raced up at Beth in an increasing frenzy of acceleration. It began to dawn on her that she wasn’t actually going to slow down. At all. And considering that her velocity had left behind the triple digits some time ago, her brain now shifted from concern over her wellbeing to wondering just how much damage she was going to do to the forest when she hit the planet going faster than the speed of sound.

Clenching her teeth and wincing at the prospect of what was to come, Beth watched, paralyzed, as the ground flew up faster and faster until she finally hit the ragged dirt and… every ounce of momentum vanished, leaving her standing quietly on the edge of a clearing in the middle of a pine forest.

Beth dropped to her knees, her whole body shaking as she tried to get her nerves under control.

“Oh. Oh, dear. I did not like that. I did not like that at all,” she said.

She stayed shaking on the forest floor for a good long while as she struggled to regain control.

Okay. You can do this, she thought to herself. You’re on a different world, in the middle of a forest. What do you have with you?

Beth assessed herself, noticing right away that her clothes had been replaced with some sort of local garb made of rough, homespun fibres. She was also wearing a backpack, but when she tried to take it off, she discovered that her hands were still shaking so hard that she could barely fumble the straps off her shoulders.

This won’t do.

Beth had to calm down. She dumped the pack on the ground next to her and stood upright in a proper posture, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out in one smooth exhale that pushed all the air out of her lungs. She continued two more times, the yogic breathing bringing her a calm that would allow her to deal with the current situation.

The moment Beth opened her eyes, a small flare of yellow light appeared in front of her, and a single piece of paper appeared, unfolding from an impossibly small size before stopping and floating in midair.

Beth grabbed the paper and read its contents:

NEW GENERAL SKILL LEARNED!

Yoga – Level 22 (Tier-II)

Three breaths, a sense of calm… and a new Skill! Very well done. It’s rare for someone to bring a new Skill to Arenia at such a high level of expertise. Careful about closing your eyes, though—there are lots of dangerous creatures around here.

Tier-I Bonus: Increase Dexterity by one-quarter of your Yoga skill level for 4 hours following your first yoga session each day.

Tier-II Bonus: Yoga practitioner may teach classes. Students also receive a Dexterity bonus following their first lesson of the day.

*Well, well, well! Someone was taking a lot of classes at the Y! Since this Skill predates your arrival in Arenia, it has been set at a level commensurate with the practical ability you already possess. Note that this calculation will only happen if you actively use a Skill from your old, boring life.

2,950 XP Earned (cumulative)

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 2 Achieved

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 3 Achieved

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 4 Achieved

XP: 2,950

XP to next Renown: 350

WORLD FIRST!

A new Skill has been introduced to Arenia! As the first yoga practitioner on Arenia who is capable of teaching the Skill to others, you have introduced it to the world. Do you spread what you know? Or do you keep it to yourself, content to let it vanish from Arenia when you run out of respawns or die of old age, becoming a Lost Skill? Either way, let’s have a Bonus XP party! Doot doot!

1,100 XP Earned

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 5 Achieved

XP: 3,950

XP to next Renown: 1,150

As soon as Beth finished reading, a book appeared in the air beside the paper, opening up and allowing the paper to flit inside its pages as though being consumed. Even though the paper only appeared for a moment, Beth had somehow absorbed the entire contents of the message, a fact that she was still coming to terms with when the book vanished, leaving Beth standing there in utter shock.

“What on earth was that?” Beth said. Then she remembered what the lizard man—Carl, apparently—had said earlier. Something about a Tome? Well, that was just a fancy word for book, wasn’t it? All Beth needed to do was work out how to bring that book back so she—

The moment Beth thought of the book, it appeared, hovering motionless before her. With an air of trepidation, Beth reached out for the floating book. The moment her hand closed on the cover, it stopped floating and settled into her hand. It was surprisingly light. When she inspected it more closely though, her heart leapt.

It looked exactly like the diary she had kept when she was in high school! It was white and covered in a rose pattern that looked like wallpaper from an old-age home, and every detail was perfect, right down to the worn corner in the top right and the brass lock that hadn’t worked since the day she got it—a gift from a girlfriend for her birthday. Oh, the memories this diary held. But… that diary had been gone for years. How was it here?

Curious, she opened the book up. The first page should have been a heartfelt letter from a childhood friend about how wonderful Beth was. What was there instead was certainly about Beth, but it wasn’t a letter.

ELIZABETH “BETH” SULLIVAN

Renown: Level 5 – Unclassed

Species: Human

Age: 44

Experience: 3,950

Experience to Next Level: 1,150

Base Attributes

Strength – 14

Constitution – 16

Endurance – 15

Dexterity – 21

Willpower – 17

Intelligence – 17

Charisma – 23

Luck – 19

AVERAGE: 17.8

Beth had no idea what the numbers meant, so she chose to ignore them. The book had a tab labelled “Skills” though, so she flipped to that.

SKILLS

Yoga: 22 (Tier-II: Proficient)

That seemed entirely unhelpful. And what did “Yoga: 22” mean?

As soon as the thought went through her head, the book flipped forward a page, acting of its own accord. There was a detailed description of the Yoga skill that she’d seen earlier, along with some extra information that hadn’t been in the initial notification.

YOGA

The practice of precise physical exercise, breathing, and relaxation techniques to train the body and mind.

Current Skill Level: 22 (Tier-II: Proficient)

Tier-0 Bonus: None

Tier-I Bonus: Increase Dexterity by one-quarter of your Skill Level for 4 hours following your first yoga session each day. (MAX)

Tier-II Bonus: Yoga practitioner may teach classes. Students also receive a Dexterity bonus following their first lesson of the day.

Tier-III Bonus: Unknown

Tier-IV Bonus: Unknown

Tier-V: There is no Grandmaster for this Skill.

Okay, so that answered a bit about what the Skill was. Weird to see it as numbers though.

Beth figured that if this book was some kind of reference manual for her life, maybe there were details somewhere explaining what it all meant. She flipped back to the front of the Skills section, and this time she noticed that the facing page had a small breakdown on how Skills worked:

SKILLS:

Each Skill has 5 tiers based on Skill level, each with an accompanying title:

Tier-0 (Raw Beginner): Skill Level 1-9

Tier-I (Hobbyist): Skill Level 10-19

Tier-II (Proficient): Skill Level 20-29

Tier-III (Journeyman): Skill Level 30-39

Tier-IV (Master): Skill Level 40-49

Tier-V (Grandmaster): Skill Level 50

There is only ever one Tier-V alive on Arenia at a time for a given Skill. While in general they are referred to as “Grandmasters,” their actual title is specific to their Skill. For example, the Level 50 in Longswords is referred to as “The Slayer*,” while the Level 50 in Pastry Baking is the “Patissier Extraordinaire.” When the global Level 50 dies, the most adept Level 49 takes their place. If there is no Level 49, there is no Grandmaster for that Skill.

*Note that the Level 50 for Magically-Enhanced Guitar is also called “The Slayer,” albeit for completely different reasons.

Beth looked up from the book. Almost on instinct, she let go of it and watched it vanish rather than falling to the ground. Somehow, she knew that she could call the book into existence at a whim and dismiss it just as easily.

“This is just too weird,” Beth said to herself, rubbing her eyes. She needed to find something else to focus on.

Looking around her surroundings, Beth saw that she’d been placed in what was quite an attractive little stretch of forest. Nice healthy pines, and a semi-dry environment that reminded her of the places her grandfather took her camping when she was a young girl.

“So, this is Arenia,” Beth said to herself, putting her hands on her hips. It didn’t look much different from Earth, truth be told. The skies were still blue, the trees were still green. The sun felt slightly different, though not in a way Beth could put her finger on. Her son would probably have some sort of theory. Mark had always been interested in physics and astronomy, even if he struggled in school.

Thoughts of her kids rushed to overwhelm her, so she forced herself to focus on her current predicament. Spiralling wouldn’t help anything, and she needed to get to this Palmyre place with nothing more than the clothes she was wearing, and whatever was in the backpack she’d been given.

Let’s see what we’ve got, Beth thought. She pulled the backpack off and set it on the ground, hoping for a map or some food to get her through the journey.

One by one, Beth pulled the items from the bag. There was no map, although there was some food, as well as a bunch of other oddities, including a large spool of rope that she couldn’t begin to think of a use for. Honestly, who needed that much rope? For some reason, her apron was in the backpack as well—why on earth would that have been included but not her clothes?

Shoving it aside, Beth noticed a small blue vial at the bottom of the bag with a slip of paper attached. She pulled it out to read what it said.

Something has happened. This is for your husband.

- Verna

Beth held the vial in front of her, watching the liquid inside swirl around oddly. What was Peter supposed to do with this?

Her question was answered when he appeared on the ground in front of her, covered head-to-toe in blood.