POV - Tad Blank

Well, I was feeling somewhat like my new name. Actually, more than a little blank. So much had happened and yet I felt I had made next to no progress. My mind had a sort of mushiness and my new body was wiped. Maybe I was coming down with something, or maybe I was just coming down from my rage tantrum. I really needed to read up on what that skill actually did. I could already feel a slight twinge of ‘buyer’s regret’ on my impulsive seizure of the skill. Or maybe I was simply hungry?

I knew Nige was absolutely amping to open up these rewards but my stomach was also amping for me to open up my mouth and feed it. This was imperative. But I had no money. Maybe I could gather some edibles?

“Nige? I need to eat something, I’m starving. What, or rather, how can I feed myself? Are there shops or restaurants or fruit trees? And before you answer you should know that I also need money, I’m absolutely skint.”

Nige spun a couple of times.

I stopped him before he became more macabre with existential isolation of death.

“The only thing that was absolutely certain about my future was that I would someday die. But I’m telling you that unless I feed the gaping black hole that is currently my stomach it is inevitable right now! I need food and, even more urgently, something to drink and I need it now!”

he sniped.

With that he opened the door and led the way out. I grabbed the cape, slung it over my shoulders and in no time at all I found myself looking down into a massive courtyard ringed with standing megaliths. My dormitory was housed inside one of the bridging members several rows back from the central court. The sheer scale of the structures simply took my breath away.

I hurried after Nige as we made our way down a series of sweeping stone stairways and joined a veritable throng of humanity. There was the occasional alien figure, a couple of elves there, a dwarf or two, that looked like an ent and several more whom I didn’t have the foggiest idea what they were. However the vast majority was a seething mass of humanity. I did spot a couple more wisps, sorry I mean zorbs, but not nearly as many as I had subconsciously expected. Distressingly, everyone else seemed to know both what they were doing and where they were going. It was loud, busy and totally overwhelming. I had certainly not expected anything like this.

“Hsst! Nige! I have no money! How can I buy anything?” I hissed urgently at my minion.

Nige bobbled distractedly

I did? I checked for any hidden pockets in my cape. Nope.

“And?”

Nige stopped and twirled.

I pulled up my Character Sheet. Yes, I had 2500xp and 250exp of which I had spent zero. I wondered how these compared to the normal currency. I guessed I’d find out soon enough.

We soon arrived at a bustling food court with multitudes of options and a myriad of different and diverse smells filling the air. The vendors were generally not human and I couldn’t help but try and surreptitiously check them out. Nige nudged me.

I speedily agreed and forthwith purchased a tasty burrito which was strangely called a kebab and a stoppered carafe of watered wine. This set me back just 1exp and the feeling I got from the bemused elven vendor was that I had overpaid. However I had sustenance and I would have paid ten times as much without blinking an eye, I was so hungry.

We found a sheltered spot out of the crowds and I sat down to consume my purchases. That was drink, food, shelter all ticked off. My immediate list of survival from way back in the clearing sorted. I relaxed. It was hard to believe that just one day had passed seeing I had slept through most of it. It was even harder when I realised that for everyone else at least six to nine months had passed; if I had understood Nige correctly. No one else was in the starter gear I was wearing and there was a massive variety of clothing, armour and weapons on display. I had a lot to catch up, and not just my new me. I realised I knew very little about anything. Including my new minion.

“What do wi-“ I stopped and tried again. “What do you eat Nige?” I wondered.

Interesting. I moved on to my recent wondering about currency. Now that immediate needs were met, currency was important. “How does gold, silver and copper work and what is the exchange to EXP?”

“Sounds simple enough,” I commented. “Are there money changers or banks and what are those caveats you mentioned?”

He interrupted my interruption before I could actually interrupt,

As much as I wanted to see the System Shop I knew this could wait. Let’s get these rewards out of the way. They certainly sounded bizarre and I really had no idea what to expect. No doubt I would also get a whole lot of questions answered as well.

We headed back to the dorm for a private space to discover more about my build. Nige was zipping all over the place. He was really anticipating this while I was quite bemused by his exuberance.

“So XP doesn’t go towards levelling up?”

That was a bit different to what I had generally expected.