Arwyn was plunged into complete darkness.

“Performing scan,” said a disembodied female voice, the kind one would expect to hear announcing floors on an elevator. “Scan complete. New player detected.” A rotating form of Arwyn appeared, lit with a spotlight from above.

“Please select a race.” The word 'Human' appeared, hovering in front of the form. By touching the arrows on either side of the word, Arwyn could see what she would look like as a member of the different races. Her face took on distinct casts as she flipped through the races, becoming catlike, reptilian, childlike, and many others, all still recognizably her. She stopped at 'Elf' and studied her herself. Her features were elongated, intensified. Exotic-looking. Elves sure are a good-looking bunch. She selected 'confirm.'

“Please select a sub-race,” said the voice. The word 'Elf' faded and 'Moon' appeared. Flipping through the three choices, the only noticeable change was that her skin changed from jet-black to very tan to very pale, similar to her usual pallor. Moon elf, I guess. Arwyn thought that it would feel strange to have dark skin when her real skin was pale. (She was an indoorsy kind of girl.)

“Please choose your hair colour.” A colour palette appeared, a red dot indicating her actual hair colour and a red circle indicating how far she could shift it without purchasing an appearance module. She was pleased to find that if she did not alter the darkness level at all, she could shift the hue to purple, her favourite colour. The result was a purple-black so dark that the purple showed only in bright light. Good thing my hair is dark to begin with, she thought, pleased with the subtle effect. She managed to make her eyes a slightly brighter shade of purple, as her eyes were brown to her hair's brown-black.

“Would you like to purchase any appearance modules?” asked the voice. Arwyn was quite tempted to make herself taller, always having been peeved that she was close to, but not quite the average height of a model[i] (not that she wanted to be a model, but still). However, she resisted and said, “No. I'm satisfied.”

“Character appearance confirmed. Please choose a character name. This may not be changed without deleting your character and starting from level 1.”

“Arwyn, A-R-W-Y-N.” Her parents had actually named her as an elf on purpose; no point in letting the name go to waste.

“I'm sorry; that name is taken. Please choose another.” Are you serious? Arwyn had always been bad at inventing names on the spot, so she just used the same one for all games. After thinking for (quite) a while, she thought, Hmm, elves... “Fey, F-E-Y.”

“Welcome to Fantasia, Fey. Your adventure begins.” At a flash of blinding light, she shut her eyes.

◊◊◊

Fey opened her eyes in an elven village (the Moonwood, as it was creatively called). True to elven style, all the buildings were living trees magically induced into creating hollows for rooms, bending roots to create steps, and so on. If you did not know it was a village, you would not recognize it as one. A small stream of people travelled in and out of the village and through the buildings, looking purposeful. Wondering where she should go, her eyes alit upon an NPC who appeared to be carving a bird out of a block of wood. There was no icon floating over his head, but looking at him, Fey instantly knew that he was the village headman, Hyurnnan, and that he had a quest for her. At her approach, he looked up and stood.

“Ah, Fey. You are ready to leave the village and to find your place in the world. Before you stray too far from the safety of the village, you must build your strength to be able to deal with the monsters that you encounter.”

Since he seemed to be waiting for a response, she said, “How might I accomplish this?”

“Take this,” said Hyurnnan, producing a dagger, complete with sheath, from (probably literally) nowhere and handing it to her. “And these,” he continued, handing over twenty small bottles about the length of her smallest finger, ten blue and ten red. They were small, but numerous, and Fey's hands were completely full. “Now go into the Forest and defeat ten slimes, bringing back three bubbles of slime as proof of your victories. Be sure not to stray too far from the village perimeter, lest you encounter monsters far beyond your level.” At that, he seemed to completely lose interest in her, going back to his carving without a second glance. Okay..., thought Fey, walking over to what appeared to be the edge of the village (hard to determine, as the buildings were trees), sitting down and dumping her burdens on the ground to take stock of her situation.

The first thing she did was to locate the small pouch she was wearing at her waist and stow her potions away. Huh. I thought they'd be bigger. Well, I guess I wouldn't be able to carry hundreds of them if they were bigger. Plus, I wouldn't want to have to chug half a litre of potion while being mauled by monsters. Or otherwise. The pouch was lined with individual pockets. Hmm, I guess these are 'item slots,' she thought, putting the health and mana potions in separate pockets. Next, she looked at the dagger she had received. How do I 'equip' this? Shrugging, she attached its sheath to her belt. Well, as long as I can stab things with it, I guess it's 'equipped' enough for me.

Okay, am I ready to go defeat slime monsters? Thinking she had better check her stats first, she called up the character menu in her head:

...This is rather pathetic. I feel like I'll die if I trip over a tree root and skin my knee. Speaking of knees (*random tangent*), Fey glanced down at what she was wearing: calf-length brown leather boots over brown leather leggings, and a white linen shirt cut rather low in the front. Ugh. One day, there's going to be a game where girls wear armour that actually protects their bodies. I hope. Her hair, appearing completely black in the shade of the Forest, was tied back in a single braid. Let's go level! (and become less pathetic!) Standing, Fey drew her dagger and paced forward, eyes alert for any slime monsters about to attack her.

When she reached the slimes (yeah, take off the 'monster' part), Fey felt rather silly for her caution. Instead of huge (or even moderately large) monsters with sharp teeth and claws, as she had imagined, she encountered Hershey Kiss-shaped bags of slime with huge eyes that would sit comfortably in the palm of her hand[ii]. An appendage ending in a small bubble of slime extended from the top, much as the paper saying 'Kiss' would extend from the chocolate. In short, these were some of the cutest creatures she had ever seen. They bounced around merrily, obviously not the type of monster that attacked on sight.

Walking up to one (they didn't move very quickly, being without legs and all), Fey gingerly picked it up by the bubble. It dangled, looking very surprised. “Aww,” she said, placing it gently down on the palm of her other hand, “you're just too cute. I can't kill you.” While she pondered just how she could advance in the game without completing her first quest, the slime bit her. Yelping in surprise, Fey jerked her hand violently, and it went flying to make a fatal-sounding splat on the ground. Fey was rather surprised when the system notices dropped directly into her head:

Huh? I learned a skill? Calling up the skills menu, she read the description:

Cool. Or lame, considering the 3 pound limit. I guess that will increase as I level. Remembering that her quest involved collecting slime bubbles, she looked at the slime's remains. Of the slime's body, nothing remained but a puddle of goo, but fortunately, the bubble was still intact. Gingerly fishing it out of the puddle, she wiped it off the best she could on a leaf and then tucked it into her pouch. I'd better not do that again; the bubble might not survive impact. The slime also appeared to have ingested a coin, which she picked up as well. I really hope that's not where all monsters keep their gold. I do not want to have to go around gutting monsters looking for loot. Looking around, she spotted her next target (red compared to the first one's green).

Aware now that they would attack once 'provoked,' she approached cautiously. So... I stab it? Still rather unwilling to kill the adorable creatures, Fey gingerly poked the slime with her dagger, then jumped back when it snarled (in a ridiculously cute, high-pitched voice), revealing tiny, sharp teeth. It hopped towards her, but every time it jumped, slime leaked out of the small hole she had made. By the time it had closed the metre between them, it looked distinctly deflated and half-dead. It made a half-hearted bump against her boot, leaking even more, then stopped moving.

Okay, this is ridiculous. And pathetic. You call this combat? And you learn skills by doing such random things? A wry smile appeared on her face. I guess this game is really suited to me. Calling up the skills menu again, she 'read:'

Hmm. Not bad.

The third slime (green again) was dispatched with little excitement, but after the fourth (orange), Fey levelled up:

Yay! thought Fey, calling up the Attribute menu:

Because Fantasia allowed characters to belong to multiple classes, some development in every attribute was required. With each level, all attributes automatically increased by one in addition to the five free points that could be assigned by the player. Considering that she was going to become a warrior, but a fast one, she put three points into strength, and one each into agility and dexterity. She moved around a little to test her newly gained attributes, but could detect no change with the minor increases. Hmm. Oh well.

As Fey went on killing slimes, they seemed to sense the danger and started to flee. Seeing as they made a squishing sound every time they hopped and travelled quite slowly, she had no problems keeping track of the colorful creatures. I feel like a murderer, she thought, slashing one (blue) open and killing it instantly. Upon accidentally stepping on one that had tried to hide in the leaf litter, Fey learned Stomp (hopefully no description necessary). After the ninth slime (yellow), she levelled up again, and stopped to apply her attribute points. By the time she refocused on her surroundings, the slimes had all successfully reached hiding places. Great. Now what?

Fey spotted a beautiful purple slime unsuccessfully trying to camouflage against a (brown) tree. Aww, my favourite colour too. Walking up to the branch it nestled on, she decided to train Bleed, and poked it with her dagger. Instead of attacking her, the slime just cringed away. Gah, now I'm a bully and a murderer, she thought, resisting the urge to break into hysterical laughter (or tears, she wasn't quite sure). Since it was not moving, the injured creature did not seem to be leaking very much. Sighing, Fey picked it up by the bubble. It gave a (cute) cry of distress and the tension made it leak faster, but the slime still did not attack her. Nuuu... I can't take this.

Realizing that she was probably going to regret it, she put the slime back down and dug out a health potion. Unsure of the procedure for making a slime drink a potion, she just dumped the liquid onto its head. Instantly, the wound started healing and it became less deflated. “Okay, now shoo,” she said, flapping her hand at it. “If you bite me, I will kill you.” Instead of taking either option, the slime just hopped up and down, looking happy. Ah... Cute overload. I really have to go find some ugly monsters before I'm reduced to a ten-year-old's brain capacity, skipping through fields of flowers and befriending the woodland creatures. When the slime did not stop hopping for a while, Fey leaned in for a closer inspection. Great. I broke the game already; nobody heals the damn monsters. In a surprisingly large leap (compared to the pathetic distances she'd seen them accomplish), it landed on her head.

Are you kidding me?? I poke this thing with my dagger, and it wants to be my pet? Picking it up off her head, she stared at it. It smiled back at her (cutely), sparkling like a jewel in a small pool of sunlight. “Okay, I'm going to be creative and call you 'Amethyst.'”

Oh god. If I accidentally drop it, it's going to die. Holding it carefully in one hand, she quickly dispatched a tenth slime (orange) with the other and the headed back towards the village.

When she arrived, Hyurnnan looked up. “Have you completed your quest?”

“I have,” said Fey, pulling three slime bubbles out of her pouch and handing them over.

He smiled. “Good. Continue to build your strength. You may now venture further into the Forest without fear. As you gain strength and riches, buy better and more powerful weapons and armour. At level 10, you may find an instructor to teach you the basics of your first chosen class.”

“Um, sir? What do I do with these?” she asked, pulling out seven more bubbles, having carefully saved one from each slime.

“Sell them to the healer,” he replied dismissively. “They're good for making salves.” He again returned to his carving.

Amethyst wiggled in her other hand, looking interested in the bubbles, so Fey held them close for it to inspect. It hopped a little closer, then ate three in quick succession.

It's...a cannibal...

Amethyst grew very slightly bigger and became less... squishy.

Having become more accustomed to the randomness of Fantasia, Fey made no comment but to call up the pet menu. She found Double Membrane in the Abilities section:

Wow. So now it won't die if I drop it accidentally, only if I throw it. Sarcasm aside, Fey was pleased. In her first quest, she had gained two levels and two skills, as well as a pet and 30 gold. Speaking of gold... Fey wandered into what appeared to be the healer's shop. Rows of herbs and bottles were lined neatly up in racks, fresh herbs were strung out to dry on the walls, and something that appeared to be both healthy and nasty-tasting was simmering in a pot over the hearth.

“Greetings, adventurer. You do not appear to be injured; how may I be of assistance?” A pretty (they were all pretty), gentle-looking elf had appeared in the opposite archway. Fey automatically knew that this was Kallara, the village healer. Feeling the need to speak in the formal cadences the NPCs used, Fey replied, “I have recently obtained some slime bubbles, and was informed that you might have use of them.”

Kallara smiled. “Ah I was just about to start a new batch of salve. Would you like for me to purchase the bubbles? Or, if you help me create the salve, I shall give you a portion of it.” A new quest was being offered, and having nothing else to do, Fey accepted it. “I would be pleased to aid you in the creation of the salve.” She wanted to say something flattering about the nobility of the healing art (or whatever), but could not think of how to word it and said nothing further.

“Good. I already have most of the necessary ingredients. All that's needed are three buckets of water, ten slime bubbles, and a flask of slime.” Oh god, I have to kill more slimes? “The water should come first,” Kallara continued, either not noticing or ignoring the pained expression on Fey's face. “Take this bucket and fill it at the stream.” Relieved at the reprieve from killing slimes, Fey grabbed the bucket and headed towards the sound of running water.

At the stream, Fey took the time to take a drink, kneeling at the edge of the water and scooping it up in her hands. Amethyst hopped down from its perch on her shoulder and landed in the shallow water with a splash. And started swelling.

Remembering from biology class what happened to animal cells in hypotonic environments[iii], Fey hurriedly snatched Amethyst out of the water. It had doubled in size, but had otherwise suffered no other visible effects. Curious, Fey opened the pet Ability menu:

Okay... Just how big is it going to get? And how do I get it to go back to its original size? Amethyst is a lot heavier now... Determined not to have to carry any more weight than necessary (*lazy*), Fey barked, “Amethyst, shrink!” Thankfully, the slime started dripping water and shrinking. Hmm...Putting Amethyst back into the water, she called, “Osmosis!” Obligingly, Amethyst swelled with water. Holding it (Fey was starting to think of the slime as a 'her'; 'Amethyst' would be a pretty sad name for a male) over the bucket, she said, “Shrink!” and the bucket filled with a small but not insignificant amount of water. Grinning, Fey dipped the bucket into the shallow stream, managing to fill it about halfway, then used Amethyst as a 'sponge' to fill it to the brim. I hope I'm not contaminating the water or something, thought Fey, poking at the water carefully. It looks okay. Anyways, the salve is made with slimes; a little more slime stuff can't ruin it. Besides, reverse osmosis is an accepted technique for purifying water. (At least that's what she told herself.) She stood, put Amethyst back on her shoulder, and hauled the bucket back to Kallara.

Back at the healer's, the brew that had been simmering over the fire was gone, replaced by a new, empty pot. “Bring that over here,” Kallara ordered when Fey appeared. “Pour it into the pot.” As Fey obeyed, Kallara asked, “How did you manage to fill the bucket to the brim?”

“Oh, I, um, scooped water in with my hands.” And a certain pet that was in my hands at the time...

Kallara smiled (*sweatdrop*). “Well, since I only expected you to be able to fill it halfway, only one more trip will suffice.” As Fey left, Kallara started taking various mysterious tools and ingredients off the shelves.

After the second trip (even easier because Osmosis reached level 2 and Amethyst could now triple in size), Fey faced the hysteria-inducing task of killing more slimes. Armed with a flask and instructions to fill it with liquid from the slimes' bodies, she set off again into the Forest.

The task was ridiculously easy. When Fey found a slime (yellow), she stuck it into the flask and used Bleed. In that way, she captured all the slime's slime and filled the flask about a quarter full. The slimes appeared to remember her, having started running ('running') away as soon as she appeared. After the third slime (pink; she didn't feel so bad about that one), all of the remaining slimes had reached cover. She knew where they were, but none were within easy reach. Just as she was resigning herself to climbing a tree, she heard a squeak.

Amethyst was on an overhanging branch, dragging another slime (red) by its bubble. Fey was horrified. She had originally put Amethyst in her pouch with a whispered, “Don't watch,” and here the diabolical slime was, dragging a comrade to its death-by-bleeding. Just what have I created? Underneath that cute (purple) exterior is a sadistic cannibal. Plucking the red slime off the branch and dropping it into the flask, she tried to think positively. Maybe they're enemies or something. There are a couple of people that I would happily bleed to death in a flask of slime (*smile* positive thinking). She was cheered even more after it died and she reached level four (the end justifies the means...). Fishing out the bubbles, she fed the extra to Amethyst, who gained experience in the Double Membrane ability. I hope I can feed her something else... Coming back here would be as pleasant as... going to summer school. (For those of you who've never been to summer school, it's... unpleasant.)

Kallara had the pot boiling and was cutting up some leaves when Fey returned. Looking up, she said, “Back so quickly?” Without waiting for an answer (which would be somewhere between 'yes' and 'no shit, Sherlock'), she took the flask and bubbles and examined them closely. Satisfied, she poured the contents of the flask into the pot and had Fey stir while she went back to cutting leaves. Fey watched with interest as Kallara pressed oil from the leaves. “What kind of plant is that?” she asked.

“Aloe. Salve is quite easy to make. All you have to do is...” And Kallara was off, detailing the process and providing a running commentary of what she was doing. Instead of being bored, Fey was fascinated. Hmm, maybe I could learn some of the healing arts; it looks interesting. In the back of her mind was the ulterior motive of wanting to save on the cost of potions (money makes the world go round).

Eventually, Kallara popped the slime bubbles and mixed them with the aloe oil. The boiling slime was strained out of the water, cooled with more water, and added to the mix. “Now, this mixture would help with cuts and burns,” said Kallara, still in lecture mode. “but its most important property is its ability to absorb healing magic.” Placing her hand over the salve, she intoned, “Blessing of Health. Heal, guérir, guarire, curar...” And she continued, saying the word 'heal' in twenty or thirty different languages. A glow appeared around her hand and seemed to sink into the salve. At each 'heal,' the light pulsed. Kallara chanted for two or three minutes without stopping, repeating the litany as necessary. Fey managed to pick up two or three words, but there was no way she could learn them all. Wow. If every spell is like this, I'd be hopeless as a mage. Finally, Kallara trailed off, looking drained but exhilarated. The glow faded from her hands, then the salve a few seconds after. To Fey's surprise, Kallara asked, “Would you like to try?”

Me?? “I don't know what to do... I don't know the words...”

Kallara smiled. “The task is simple. Concentrate on infusing the salve with healing energy, then say 'blessing of health.' She winked. “As for the words, the translations are just for show; I could just say 'heal' over and over and the spell would work just as well.”

“Oh.” Fey was experiencing a childish feeling of disillusionment (*disillusioned*), but shook it off and placed her hand over the salve. Feeling rather silly, she focused on healing, and said, “Blessing of Health.” When her hand actually started to glow, she mentally jumped up and down with excitement and high-fived herself (no, she didn't just clap her hands together; it's possible to high five yourself in your imagination). *Squee,* it works! Taking a calming breath, she said, “Heal.” The light pulsed and she felt something rush through her, making her even more excited (so much for calming down). Is that what magic feels like? So cool! Feeling smug, she continued with “guérir.” She was totally deflated (*deflated*) when the response to that was a stab of pain between her eyes and:

Aww, so lame (*tear*).

Kallara made her feel slightly better when she said, “That was well done. Not everyone is able to invoke healing power on their first try. As you increase in magical reserves, you will surely be able to create powerful potions, perhaps even lay healing directly on people.” Is she saying I should become a cleric? I hate having to party though and it's the most party-dependent class. Maybe for my second class (*save money*).

Kallara filled a small flask with salve and handed it over, along with a twenty-gold piece.

“You don't have to pay me,” Fey protested, surprised. “My reward was just supposed to be a portion of the salve.”

“Take it; you've earned it,” Kallara replied with a smile (cheerful girl). “You accomplished the tasks I set for you quite quickly, and the quality of the ingredients was exceptional. There's usually dirt and leaves in the slime that adventurers bring me; you saved me a lot of trouble from having to filter them out. I am guessing you must have killed at least twenty slimes in order to fill the flask without collecting contaminants as well.”

Or not... *sweatdrop.* Fey took the money.

Cool! I actually learned the spell! I guess that's what the manual meant when it said NPCs could teach skills. “Thank you,” said Fey to the healer.

“Return any time and I will show you more of the healing craft.”

Fey left, feeling the beginnings of friendship with Kallara. Wait... She's just an NPC. Those were all programmed responses. Subdued, she went to find her next task.

Footnotes:

[i] The “minimum” height in editorial modelling is considered to be 5’8” (173cm).

[ii] These monsters were stolen directly from Maplestory, the MMORPG created by Nexon.

[iii] A hypotonic environment is one where the solute concentration in the environment is less than that of the cell. In such conditions, animal cells absorb water until their membranes burst (lyse) and die.