After he dropped his bombshell, I decided that I should have kept the best decision I'd ever taken in my life: to ignore that bastard. Pissed, I gave up on cooking and went to my room where I logged in.

The training master didn't plan to be back before next week. I'd been gone three hours real time which meant that 18 hours had passed in the game. Having nothing to do, I went to check the books lining the walls.

There were on a variety of subjects. As I read them, I gained a few skills that I was sure would help me in the future.

Reading comprehension Beginner Lvl 1 10%

Increases the speed of your reading and of your understanding of the material

+ 5% per level at beginner stage

Magic mastery [active] Beginner Lvl 1 10%

The higher the skill the more complex the spell one is able to cast

Mana consumption depends on the spell used.

Magic comprehension [passive] Beginner Lvl 1 20%

The more you know about magic the less mana you need to cast a spell.

After 5 days in game, the training master came through the door. He had two swords in hands.

“Today, we'll train your swordsmanship.”

I didn't have the time to say anything before he threw one of the swords at me and launched an attack. I fumbled with the sword for a moment and then, dodged. I would have loved to say that it was due to my quick reflexes and my innate talent but he was clearly taking it easy on me.

However, even his taking easy was barely what I could keep up with. We exchanged many blows and each time my sword went flying. My strength stat was low and even though I didn't tire, it made my grip far too lax. After a half hour, he called a stop to the sparring.

“You need to train your strength. Come with me.”

He led me out of the room, toward the back of the house. I kept glancing around, curious about this place he had brought me to. We passed a kitchen in which the woman who opened the door to us when we first came was cooking.

“Who is she?” I asked pointing her out.

“My wife.”

“Oh ! Should I present my respects?”

“No need. She can't see you.”

He led me though a door to what might have been a backyard. I wasn't sure because to me, it looked like a junkyard. Flower pots were scattered among broken pieces of furniture. There were boulders piled up near the fence. Leaves from a huge tree covered everything up.

“Clean the garden.” I looked at him with astonishment. Was THAT supposed to be garden?

*Ding*

You have received a quest!

Clean the garden

To pursue your training you need to gain strength. To achieve that goal, the training master asked you to clean the garden.

Difficulty: D

Requirements: being trained by the training master, lacking strength

Rewards: 10 strength points, 15 agility points, gardening skill

“When you say clean, do you mean get rid of everything or put everything to order?” He didn't give me an answer and left... “Well, I accept then.”

You have accepted the quest.

Fortunately, gardening was a hobby of mine. He hadn't answered my question when I asked him what it was that I should be doing so I decided to do whatever I wanted. I started inspecting more closely what was in the backyard and separate everything per pile. It was excruciating.

I didn't tire but there were more and more occasions were I felt stupid trying to lift things. I was sure I was making quite a sight. A floating guy trying to lift a pot. Again, thank god that I was invisible.

Two days later, I finally finished putting everything into piles. There was a pile that was useless junk that could be thrown away. Another pile was of things you normally could find in a garden like pots, a bench or even boulders. And then there was the third pile. It was mainly composed of things that had no business being in a garden or even in a backyard. There were swords, polished crystals, jewels and a bed. Seriously I found a real bed in the backyard. I was curious but I didn't ask what it was doing there.

It took me a whole week to rearrange that garden. I even found a way to use the third pile. I was really proud of myself and when the training master came to see the final product of all my efforts, I couldn't prevent myself from preening a little. Well a lot. I might have bragged his ears off. Not like anyone other than him could hear me.

Quest completed!

You have created a tranquility garden.

Effects:

Health and mana regeneration increased by 10% for a day

+ 1 stamina recovered every 20 minutes

+20 mana recovered every 10 minutes

Curious, I checked my stats and skills.

Status[quart=Character name,Alignment]Everheart,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]2 (10%),None[/quart][quart=Title,Race]None, Nature spirit[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]∞, ∞[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]20,30[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]44,12[/quart][quart=Vitality,Affinity to Nature]∞,100%[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]N/A,N/A[/quart]Magic resistance100%You are invisible until summoned. No one can touch you nor hear you.

Float [Active] Intermediate lvl 2 3%

You are able to float above the ground.

Speed: 90 miles per hour

Height: Six feet above the ground

10 mana per second

Touch [Active] Intermediate lvl 2 10%

You are able to touch things and people in the material and immaterial world with your body.

20 mana per second.

Reading comprehension Beginner Lvl 5 67%

Increases the speed of your reading and of your understanding of the material

5% per level at beginner stage

Magic mastery [active] Beginner Lvl 2 17%

The higher the skill the more complex the spell one is able to cast

Mana consumption depends on the spell used.

Magic comprehension [passive] Beginner Lvl 3 57%

The more you know about magic the less mana you need to cast a spell.

Sword Mastery Beginner lvl 2 54%

Increases attack power with a sword

+10 % per level

Dagger Mastery Beginner lvl 2 43%

Increases attack power with a dagger

+10 % pr level at beginner

Archery Mastery Beginner lvl 1 31%

Increases attack power with a bow

+10 % pr level

Gardening mastery Beginner lvl 2 67%

The higher the skill the more complex garden can be created.

Currently I had nine skills. Most were still in the beginner stage but overall they were advancing nicely. What bothered me though was that my skills were all over the place. Before I started playing I had this great idea of becoming a Paladin, the highest rank knight, but now I was a spirit and some of my skills were definitely not knightly. Did a spirit knight even exist? My plan was doomed when I became a spirit. I didn't have a plan B because I was still in the dark about what I was.

The training master led me back to the room where I would follow his training.

“Now that you have some strength in you, let's spar.” He gave me a sword and rushed at me immediately with a swing. I parried. I had gained more strength so I assumed that it wouldn't go like before. I was wrong. My sword went flying again and again.

“Hold your sword more firmly. You don't have a limp wrist, do you? Don't be afraid to grip it harder.” He told me.

I tried to do as he instructed but the results were the same. After each hit, my sword flew away. I was getting frustrated, I wanted to yell, to rage but I couldn't. He was keeping his cool. Even after a few hours he was still calm as a lake. He didn't insult me. I had nothing to rage about apart from my incapacity to keep the sword in my hands.

Mentally, I felt tired. “Could you just teach me the proper way to hold the sword? Please?”

“Well, it took you long enough, lad.” He said with a big sigh. “the weapon's design influences the way its used in combat and as such the way it should be held. For example, look at the sword your holding. How does it look like?”

“It's a sword.” He looked at me like I was dumb. I looked at it closely. “It had a sharp edge and the other is blunt. Oh god!” As I took notice of the sword I realized that with the way I held it until now, the sharp edge was fixed on me and not my opponent. I quickly corrected my mistake. “The hilt is weird. It doesn't feel right in my hand.” I shook it trying to find the solution.

“Try with your other hand.”

“Ah! It feels better. But why?”

“Before you use a weapon in combat you have to check it over. It doesn't magically happen like some people say. People just can't use a weapon if they don't look closely at what it is. The sword in your hands is a left-handed saber.” He proceeded in a detailed explanation of the different swords that exists and promised to teach me about another weapon the next day.

For the following days in game, it was a mix of talking about this and that type of weapons and of sparring. Only after all this, he decided to teach me the identify skill.

You have been taught a new skill!

Identification [Active] Beginner Lvl 1 0%

The higher the skill the more information you get about an item.

100 mana per identification.

I wanted to yell but I calmed down when he said he was going to teach me some spells. I should have guessed he wasn't just a warrior. He could see and touch me after all. I swallowed the words I wanted to tell him and proceeded to learn everything he would teach me.

In real life, things were at a standstill with me ignoring my roommates and them ignoring me for days. However, it couldn't last. The dreaded day came. The day had to do an activity with them was finally here.

Previous / Next

A.N.: Thx for the comments. It's nice to know people read and like the story. I read some comments and some were about all the hate the MC received. I have to say that was actually loosely based on something that happened when I was in middle school.

There was a girl called Ericka. She was always smiling. She looked like a nice girl. One monday she came to school with bandages on her wrists and when asked what happened she would cry and say that a guy name Aurélien abused her, she couldn't bear the shame and then she slits her wrist. All of her friends surrounded her so it was hard to actually question what happened. When you did, they would all turned against you and say that you're heartless. Basically they guilt trip you into believing her. By the end of the day, there was a crowd ready to lynch the guy for what he did. Even his friends hated on him. He fled by jumping over the back gate of our school.

The following day, she came to school with no bandages, no wounds and with a huge smile on her face. That's when we knew that she had totally lied and that she had more than one screw loose. When asked why she did it, she said it was because he rejected her and she wanted him to pay.

Needless to say, she lost most of her friends and no one ever believed anything she said again.

My story won't have the same ending but that was just to show that it's easy to turn an entire middle school against a guy.