Kalamedra had spent almost all of his 5 days in-game so far in the journey to get to this hidden Temple, and now he was here a few hours and he was ready to leave. He tried to convince himself that his desire to depart had nothing to do with the rent in reality that now hung over the stone altar. He tried real hard.

It’s better if I go out into the world and test out my new abilities, and find some spells to convert to Shadow Spells. Also, I am sure that being the First Disciple of the Big Bad is going to bring a lot of “heroes” across my path, sooner or later. I better be able to protect myself and escape, because I don’t plan to go out like that.

Beside the changes to his skin, eyes and hair he could also feel the difference in his body, especially when standing in areas of shadow. To be fair, it was pretty dark in the cave but there were spots of deeper darkness, concealed from the light of the glowing moss. When he stood in those spots, he could actually feel his body fading in to the shadow, dispersing into the stuff. He could also sense any shadows around him, and move from one shadow to another with merely a thought.

He had no doubt that this was because of his Shadow Form being maxed out due to his First Disciple title. The myriad of ways this could be used both offensively and defensively in combat were endless. The only question was how he was going to be in sunlight, hopefully he didn’t suffer like vampires. Another thing was that his Dexterity was now 20, which he knew was considered end-game type stats in Koral. He literally felt like he was moving too fast every time he tried to do something, and he had innate acrobatic skills now that he had never imagined he would possess.

He carefully packed up any food scraps into his ring, settled his sword through his belt, and brushed the dust off his clothes. He also changed his interface settings so that he would now get gains as they happened, figuring that it was becoming too difficult to really judge what aided his gains the most when he just reviewed them all later.

As he reached the end of the tunnel, the chasm yawning before him, he noticed that he could now see through the supernatural darkness as if it was regular gloom. Clearly his new pitch-black eyes were more than decorative. He looked down into the depths of the put and saw that while it was a good 100 feet down – sure to be deadly! – it was not endless. It did appear though that there was a deep layer of sand at the bottom cushioning the sound of anything that fell.

The people who built this place were clever, clever fucks. Anything that went down there would never make a sound at the bottom, so it just sounds like it never hits bottom. This whole place is like a Test for those who are trying to find the Temple. The Void’s Temple now, I guess. Oh well, I don’t think I’ll be back here unless summoned. Standing next to a nuclar reactor is not my idea of fun.

With his new Dexterity it was a breeze to walk his way up the crevasse, leaping up out of it onto the side of the cliff and rolling down a few times before springing up and doing a forward front-flip to land at the base of the Cliffside.

Badass. Bad ass!

System Notification New Skill: Acrobatics Discovered Skill Increase: Acrobatics is now Beginner 5 (+5)

One of the things he had been discovering is that if you showed that you had command of a skill the system would reward you with better gains, at least to start. So by showing that he understand, at least in part, the way to use his new physical attributes the game had rewarded him with a greater skill rating. As for the skill ratings, they seemed to be more an indicator of the extent you could use that skill, rather than an artificial way of using that skill. For example, you get a higher skill rating of swordsmanship by learning to use your sword through repetition and training, you don’t learn to use the sword better by having a better skill.

With a sense of freedom, and wonder, he stepped into the shadow of a nearby tree and then from there he jumped from shadow to shadow, making his way to the top of the crown of the highest tree around. Standing on the top of the tree was one of the scariest, and most liberating, experiences of his life. To be so high, to see so much, and to know that he was only the shadow of a leaf away from leaping to safety.

THIS! This is the reason I spent the money, that I took the risk! So that I can spend what time I have left experiencing a freedom I never had in my whole “real” life. It’s been a little over 5 days in Koral, which means roughly 5 hours out there in the “real” world. I have lived more in those 5 hours than I have in the last 20 years. Fuck letting anyone take this from me. I am Kalamedra now, and I will not let anyone destroy this. I’m tied to the VOID now, so that’s the game I gotta play. And if I have to play, I am going to play to win.

Kalamedra lifted his arms up, leaned his head back and yelled as loud as he could, “I’m the King of the World!” At that moment he felt so powerful that he totally missed that his body tipped right over backward, following his head’s momentum and he plummeted towards the ground at a prodigious rate. “Oh, fuck my life!”

As the ground, and his end, rapidly approached he grabbed at anything he could, willing himself to live. As his arms reached and grasped, and branches pulled through his fingers ripping skin and flesh, he felt something coil out of a shadow close by and wrap around his forearm. With a sickening sound his precipitous descent stopped, and the pain in his left shoulder began. He used the last of his energy to swing himself over to a branch and grab it with his legs. “OH FUCKING HELL THAT HURTS!”

He pulled himself into a shadow and used that to leap down into a shadow at the base of the tree, his body going limp as his cooling muscles tightened. His shoulder hurt like a bitch. He moved it a little to make sure it wasn’t dislocated but it seemed like that shadow tendril knew its business and had swung his weight rather than jerking it.

Lesson learned. Don’t get high on your own supply.

He rested a while, sitting in the shadow of a tree. He noticed that he seemed to be repairing his sore muscles at a faster than normal rate in the shadow. It was clear that having a max Shadow Form had more bonuses than he had realized. Once his arm was merely sore, instead of agony, he used the shadow to climb back up to the peak of the highest tree so he could take in the surrounding area and see if there was anything interesting.

Behind the hill and cliff-face to the west there was rolling foothills that led up to an imposing mountain range. To the north there was more forest, and an open area where the burned out, salted remains of a town lay. To the south there was a swamp, and then a massive bayou area, beyond which was a lake so large it might be called and inland sea. To the east was more forest and then the road beyond that, leading in to the still-civilized area of the former empire.

I am not really sure of the political landscape in the former empire, except to know that the Agelastan Empire no longer exists as a political unit. I think I heard some scraps of conversation in Far Westburg that led me to believe that it is now a series of city-states, and small areas ruled by the local nobles. I could make my way back towards the east and see what I can find. Surely there is some kind of dungeons or monster populations, it is a game after-all. I need xp, and armor, and spell scrolls, and some money. Lots to do, but I have some skills that should help me survive now.

With a smile, he skillfully leaped down to a branch , stepped in to a shadow and then had fun going from shadow to shadow all the way to the ground. When he got to the ground he felt ill, and tired. Checking his bars on his view, he saw that that had depleted his stamina, and noted that for the future. He took some food from his spatial ring and ate it, restoring some of his stamina and then set off to the east, to find the road and back the way he had come so recently.

He walked for a few hours, keeping a low speed so that his stamina would continue refilling, until he heard the sound of men fighting and dying nearby. Quickly he got off the main road and into some scrub brush by the side of the road, starting to move toward the sound which seemed to be coming from around the next bend in the road. As he moved closer he could hear the sound of metal weapons ringing off armor, and thudding off shields. The sound of arrows sawing through the air like so many angry bees was especially easy to pick out.

System Notification Skill Increase: Hide is now Beginner 5 (+2) Skill Increase: Perception is now Beginner 2 (+1) Skill Increase: Sneak is now Beginner 5 (+2)

He finally got close enough to the fight to see the barest hints of the combat, so he stepped into a shadow and leaped to one up in the foliage of a tree near the road. He was sitting in the crook of a limb, swathed in darkness as he took in the fight. There was a wagon stopped in the road before a tree which had been across it. There was a male elf kneeling in the back of the wagon rapidly firing a shortbow at four grungy bandits who were fighting a human and another elf hand to hand nearby.

The human was a tall man, with long blond hair spilling out of a steel helm, and a maille shirt. He had a round wooden shield, and a longsword and was skillfully holding off two of the scruffy bandits. The other elf meleer was wielding two short swords, holding off the other two bandits, moving in an unpredictable manner and straight up avoiding many of the blows.

That is a high dodge skill in action there. That is definitely something I need to work on with my new high Dexterity. My strength is still barely above average, so dodging seems better than having too heavy of armor, although “some” is worlds better than “none”.

Kalamedra made his move, stepping down into one of the bandit’s shadows. The dwarf was wearing a maille shirt that had seen better days, rents were open in several spots where previous owners had been pierced. His iron-grey hair was in a unkempt Mohawk, and the bottom edge of it was a great marker for where his skull met his spine. Kalamedra grabbed the hilt of his sword, bent forward slightly pulling it out at the same time his left hand pulled the scabbard away, and pulled it free with a terrifying speed.

The black metal blade hit the top of the dwarf’s spine, parting the flesh like a hot knife through butter. Blood and bone chips exploded out on either side of the blade as it quickly severed the spinal cord, and the dwarf dropped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

System Notification Skill Increase: One-Handed Swords is now Beginner 2 (+1) Skill Increase: Two-Handed Swords is now Beginner 4 (+1) XP Increase: You have gained 200xp

Without pausing, Kalamedra put his left hand on the hilt and jerked the blade back out as the dwarf started to fall, bringing the hilt back up by the right side of his head and then swinging it to the left with hack that severed the next human bandit’s right shoulder. With another jerk he pulled the sword back out. The human bandit turned towards him and lost focus on the human merchant guard, and in that moment the hulking man chopped off the left side of the human bandit’s face.

System Notification Skill Increase: Two-Handed Swords is now Beginner 5 (+1) XP Increase: You have gained 200xp

Kalamedra ran with a burst of speed behind the remaining two bandits, both humans, and chopped them each on the back of their right legs, severing the tendons and forcing them to go down on one knee. He then moved over about 10 feet away from the fight. The human merchant guard moved over to assist his elven comrade and they quickly defeated the two kneeling foes. The elven archer just held his position on the wagon, clearly not wanting to fire into combat at the moment.

System Notification XP Increase: You have gained 100xp XP Increase: You have gained 100xp

Kalamedra flicked the blood off his blade, noting to remind himself later to properly clean it, and sheathed it in his scabbard. He watched the guards and merchant start looting the bandits, and they were watching him at the same time as well. The two elves were especially rude with the way they were staring at his features. The silence was deafening after the din of battle.

“Thanks for stepping in, young one. Rare to see someone your age out in the wilds, with such skill,” the female elf said suspiciously. She was carefully observing his elven ears and build, and undoubtedly trying to place his skin coloring.

“I’m not as young as I look. I’ve lived quite a bit for my age.” To say the least, I spent a whole lifetime in a human body before stuffing myself into this 12-year-old elf. “I just didn’t want to see you done in by such trash as these.”

The human guard kept digging through the pouches of the bandits, and checking anywhere they might have stashed a tasty bit of loot. The male elf looked up from his looting towards Kalamedra and shrugged ruefully. “I always say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I’m Jaris, a merchant out of Alvim, and these two are my guards. You have my sincere thanks for helping us win that fight without suffering any serious losses.”

“Your thanks are worth their weight in gold.”

The elf’s forehead wrinkled as he worked that one out, and then his lips acquired a wry grin. “Ah, looking for a reward for your help then? And here I thought you stepped in out of the goodness of your heart.”

“You paid your guards. They weren’t enough to save you, or your goods. I think the blade that turned the tide in your favor deserves some compensation. Plus, we are in the literal middle of fucking nowhere. Providence deserves it’s due as well, I’ll collect on their behalf.”

The female elf and human both looked like they wanted to say something as he had just implied their skills were not up to the task of defending Jaris. They definitely would have said something, except the small fear in their hearts that this implication was in fact correct. They glared at him, and he saw the human’s hand slide a little towards his scabbarded longsword before stopping himself.

“Hmph, not exactly a hero out of the songs, but I guess that is too much to expect from one so unique as yourself. Very well, come and see if any of my goods would be a suitable reward, according to your lights.”

Deciding that shame is a luxury for those who can afford it, Kalamedra made his way over to the wagon. Jaris came over and opened a few chests full of goods, many of them utilitarian such as simple tools and survival gear and waved his hand over them like it was gold he was offering. After digging around for a few moments Kalamedra took out a small spyglass, and some pliers, metal wedges and spare maille rings.

“Small enough recompense for aiding you, I think. I am going to take the least shitty of the maille hauberks as well. Glad we could do this amicably.”

“Very well, stranger. I am glad to have my life, after all.” The words sounded bitter.

Someone’s salty.