After what feels like a blackout, I open my eyes to see rough logs overhead. I wave my hand to get a feel for the game motion and the movement is so natural and realistic that I almost wonder if everything had just been a hopeful dream, except for the logs overhead. Now that I think about it is really cold. Getting up I realize the cold is likely because I am naked. Luckily I see a pile of clothes off next to a thick fur blanket that must have fallen off to the side. I quickly dress as the goosebumps grow on me before I realize something really profound.

I’m not in pain…..I’M NOT IN PAIN!!!! Holy motherfuckin I am not in pain! Dancing half naked in a tight space isn’t very easy as it turns out. After finishing dressing myself, I swing a hanging piece of leather away and see that I’m in a long-house type building with bedding at the edges and privacy flaps tied off. I’m still a little giddy from not hurting anymore as I navigate my way out.

Upon exiting the dim long-house I find an old man outside by a small fire pit talking to some elderly ladies. It doesn’t take him long to see me, “Oh! Kara it is good to see you up finally. Are you ready for the ceremony tonight? I bet you are excited to finally meet your Totem and be an adult! As you know the whole day is really a ceremony, but first have some of this to eat.” He hands me a flat bread filled with meat and seasoning. It smells really good and even though I’m still trying to figure out what is going on I go ahead and eat it deciding to listen first.

So far things are nothing like I had expected them to start. Most games just plop the character into the world and you go from there, but here it seems they like to have a back story continuity. They did stress immersion in the briefings; so, this is likely a part of that.

Taking a bite of the taco like breakfast is another wonderful shock. It’s really good! I’ve eaten processed food almost all my life and I’ve never had anything that tasted as good as this. This must be what real food is supposed to taste like! As I eat the old man continues to speak to me, “After you finish eating you will begin the ceremonial tasks that show you are worthy to find your Totem. You’ve done some of these hundreds of times I’m sure, but others you probably have never done.”

“The first task is to gather ten of these herbs” as he tells me this he shows me a green sprig that smells faintly like liquorish. “This herb, as I’m sure you know, is called Cinnow and can be found in the village by lightly disturbed earth. Once you’ve collected ten of them come back to me for the next task.”

Having heard this I realize that this is probably the introductory quest series most games have and is something familiar for me to latch onto. If I had just woken up in game without all the preparation I would likely have thought it was either a really realistic dream or that I had been dropped into another world. The realism and sensations were more real then life.

I examine the plant carefully since it would be bad to grab the wrong plant after all. I wonder what the Marines have to do then? Do all introductory quests start out with gathering plants?

After I leave the Elder I start looking around the outside edges of long-house I just walked out of as that seems like a place that would be see foot traffic but be out of the way. This seems like a good opportunity to check my status and as I think that the status panel appears before me.

That’s right say or think status.

Status

Name: Kara Winters

Race: Human: Y-tekra

HP: 100%

SP: 100%

MP: 100%

Skills

Archery: 15% Novice

Polearm: 15% Novice

Small Blade: 15% Novice

Animal Handling: 15% Novice

Hunting: 15% Novice

Tracking: 15% Novice

Natural Crafts: 15% Novice

Survival: 30% Basic

Looking at the window shows me that once again this isn’t your normal game as there are no Strength or Wisdom stats and the HP, SP, and MP is just a percentage. I wonder how many people are going to complain about that? After all immersion wise it makes sense that some things you wouldn’t quantify in that way. Looks like the percentage was a compromise by the developers.

Looking down the window I see words like Novice and Basic. I wonder what the Expertise system looks like and once again thinking about it brings up another panel next to the status window.

Expertise Levels

Novice 15%: Knows 1 subskill

Basic 30%: Knows 1/4 of subskills

Apprentice 45%: Knows 1/2 of subskills

Journeyman 60%: Knows every subskill at apprentice level and can teach apprentices

Master 75%: Knows every subskill at journeyman level and can teach journeymen

Expert 90%: Knows every subskill at master level and can teach masters

Pioneer 100%: Knows every subskill at expert level and can teach experts

Ah! There it is. It seems to vaguely follow the archaic guild system which is interesting and definitely a different approach to game mechanics. Expertise is likely going to be a hard thing to level. Thinking about Skills brings up a new panel. It seems just thinking about something even in an indirect way can trigger the panels. So I blank my mind to remove all the open windows and just think about one skill I glanced at before they disappeared. ‘Archery’

Archery Skill: Novice

Simple Bow +.15%DMG: 15%

???

???

???

Targeting +0 ACC: 0%

Standing Shot +0% RANGE: 0%

Moving Shot +0% ACC: 0%

Quick Shot +0% DMG: 0%

Stealth Shot +0% CRIT: 0%

Double Shot +0% DMG: 0%

Going by this it seems I know a little of Simple Bows and how they improve the damage rating. Oh! Looks like all the things related to improving damage, health, and such seem to be inside the skill improvement. Such a intriguing approach! Range is easy to understand, but ACC?

“ACC stands for Accuracy.” Genesis’ voice rings out in my head.

Well, that put me in my place. DMG, CRIT those are also standard for damage and critical. Looks like the Archery subskills improve my attacks in different ways. Wonder if it is only towards Archery or if it is across the board. That could get overpowered really quick.

Looking at the ??? doesn’t give me a lot to go off, but once again Genesis’ voice answers my unspoken question. “Some skills allow you to choose additional weapons, tools, or skills that are related. As there are many variations available choose wisely. Once a slot is filled it cannot be removed.”

Oh! Well, that changes things. Mastering Archery is going to be a lot of work, but if I ever do, I know I’m going to feel the achievement. It also seems that each subskill increases by the same percentage guild system; although, at this point, I have no basis for how quickly expertise increases or its difficulty.

With the basics out of the way I walk around the village looking for the plants and it doesn’t take me long to find my first Cinnow stalk. Looking at it closely a window pops up.

Cinnow: Cooking Herb

Smells lightly of liquorish. It is used as a basic cooking ingredient with meat to eliminate bad taste.

It seems looking at items closely will also bring up the panel. Well, now I’ve got things sorted I think I will not worry about the windows as much except for now and then as it is expertise based. No need to clutter my view with windows all the time. As I think this I hear a chime and Genesis’ voice saying, “Preferences have been noted. Information windows will now only show when a new skill is learned, a new item is found, or an intentional activation.” Fancy that.

Now I can really start playing!

It doesn’t take long to find nine more Cinnow stalks. Since this was a good opportunity I explored the village to find where everything was a while grabbing extra stalks for later in case I need them. In my exploration I noticed the village is shaped like a square with one long house on each side facing a communal fire pit in the middle. People working on various crafts sit on the inside open space while animal herds roam the outside. A river on the East side curves slightly North and South to hug the village creating a natural barrier, to the North a forest starts, and the South and West are grassland.

Done with my search and exploration I head back to the center where the Elder tells me“Great work Kara! Now I will need you to hunt down five Hedge Vars. You can ask the goat herder Val if any have been pestering them lately.”

Alrighty then lets get introductory quests finished quickly! Heading outside the village I make my way quickly towards a flock of giant goats. As I approached a man sitting on a rock under a tree stands up and heads towards me. “I heard there were Hedge Vars bothering the herd?”

“Heh. You could say that. They’ve been scaring the milk from the goats jumping out and chasing them. It would be much appreciated if you culled the vermin down,” The man’s weather beaten skin creaks as he smiles at me. “Hope you pass the test girly.”

As I turn to leave I see him shake his head at my back. Maybe I should have asked him more about the monsters, but I really wanted to get my first kill in. That is, after all, what gamers do. Kill lots and lots of monsters.

This is my first chance to hunt or shoot my bow at something in game. I had some real experience with a bow, but it was all just shooting for fun with no training. The important thing I learned from that is to not lock the elbow after getting a giant and painful bruise inside my forearm. I’ll be doing my best not to do that today.

Bows, despite what people think, don’t come pre-strung. It’s bad to leave a bow strung as it warps the shape and removes the spring. This is a simple bow which is even more likely to go out of shape as it is nothing more than a stick curved down by the string. Bows like this don’t last long and have very little range. Stepping carefully through the frame I pull the string up from the bottom as I bend the top. Eventually I’ll have the strength to do this quickly and with muscle memory. The last preparation before I start tracking is to pop the cover on my quiver and readjust it on my hip to easily draw arrows. In the traditional games you never had to worry about preparing to hunt creatures like this. This is more like starting life in a new world, then playing a game.

In the Army we were given a crash course in tracking in the event we are forced to survive on our own. Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape otherwise known as SERE is an actual course for the career types that are lucky enough to get a training slot. For the rest of us, we get second hand training from those lucky few.

I know enough to look for tracks, but it takes me a long time to figure out what I’m looking for. Goat prints were easy enough to figure out since they are hooved. Unless Hedge Vars are hooved that should rule out most of the prints down here. The human prints are also easy to rule out as well. After searching for a while I find tracks at the edges that look somewhat like a dog print. It was hard to find in the middle of the goats as they are walking all over place; however, since the creatures like to chase the goats I think this print may be the right one.

Picking a set that appear to head out to the forest nearby I follow the trail losing sight now and then and having to backtrack a few times before I spot movement ahead. Running out from behind a bush a strange dog like creature chases a rabbit. It looks like a green scaled Doberman with horns on its head.

I’m lucky that I’m downwind as I’m completely in view. It is only because I froze immediately that I avoided detection. Once the beast disappears from view I crouch low and ready an arrow to shoot and start stalking in the direction I saw it run. It doesn’t take long until I see it eating the rabbit it chased before. I take aim and practice my gun range breathing, in and out slow, waiting for the out breath to shoot.

With a lucky shot I hit a leg on the creature with barely any time to get another arrow knocked before the beast barrels into me. I lose that arrow and fall to the ground as the beast scrabbles against my arms trying to eat my face. In something close to panic I manage to grab the arrow I dropped by the shaft and stab the beast in the eye.

The beast dies quickly as I lose all strength letting the thing fall on top of me. Fuck, only four more to go. I shove it off of me and spend a moment to focus for information.

Hedge Var: Lesser Death Dog

Swift and deadly, these armored beasts hunt for fun. When a prey is found they will ram with their horns and kill slowly by eating one limb at a time. Once the limbs are gone the body is left behind and a new prey hunted down. While they are edible it is strongly recommended cooking with herbs.

It doesn’t take a lot of brains to figure out those herbs I collected may be used in a dish with this Hedge Var. Never thought I’d be eating dog meat. Since they are quick and deadly and all I’ve got is a bow it is time to rethink my strategy. Clearly ground hunting won’t work unless they are very far away…and I don’t feel good about my aim yet. The only solution is to shoot from above, but it means that I’m going to have to bait them somehow to make them come to me.

Pulling my arrow out of the Hedge Var eye I stab the rabbit to put it out of it’s misery. Looking at the body I think Inventory, but nothing comes up. Please don’t tell me there isn’t one! “Bag” “Inventory” “Container” “Character Sheet” “Armory” “Fuck” Since none of that worked I have to do this the dirty way. Hopefully it is something I can unlock later as part of the introductory phase. Come to think of it I don’t have a lot of tools right now. Like rope, I could definitely use a rope about now.

When I put on the clothes and items near my bed I didn’t really look closely at what I had. Now is a good time to know my resources. Starting from the ground up: boots, pants, and belt. On the belt: water flask, leather pouch with tinder fire-starting tools, another leather pouch this time with twine and a hook, a short knife in a sheath, quiver with arrows, and Cinnow stuck around the belt. Continuing up is a tunic like shirt, fur vest, fingerless gloves, a fur hat, and finally by simple bow. No rope.

Looking around I see some woody vines growing on the trees and use my knife to saw at the base of the vine then unwind it from the tree. Hoping it isn’t like poison ivy I work with it to make a couple of loops around the var and lift it up into the tree to secure it better. At least this way if an animal tries to make off with my var they will have to work for it.

Looking up at my work I realize that once again I treated the game as the real world. Well, since it didn’t become a drop I’ll have to hope that dropped items work when you have an inventory otherwise it is going to be a messy process.

Time to look for a good ambush spot! Walking around I leave marks on trees to help me find my way back since I don’t have a map and trying out various words didn’t bring one up either. At some point the sound of water gurgling draws my attention so I make my way to it thinking that with the realism so far that maybe Hedge Vars need to drink too.

Breaking through the ground foliage I see a very small stream meandering through the trees. Following the stream I finally find a tree thick enough to hold my weight. Bingo! That’s my tree!

As I’m standing like an idiot looking at the tree, a horrible yowling growl rises close behind me. Fearing to look behind I make a sprinting jump onto the lowest branch on the tree wishing with all my might that my fat and out of shape body wasn’t carried over to the game. I somehow manage to latch on and pull myself up just in time to feel a thud in the trunk. I’m not high enough to avoid jumping attacks yet so I quickly start to pull myself up while panting before the Hedge Var is reoriented. Looking down I see the beast glare at me before it runs off.

Sighing deeply, I barely get a moment to relax before yipping and thuds come in and my tree starts swaying badly. Seven Hedge Vars are taking turns ramming into my tree; so, in a way my ambush goal worked except that I was the one ambushed and trapped in a tree like a cat. Watching carefully I try to find a way out of this mess. As each Hedge Var hits the tree it looks like pauses from being dazed so once I get an opening I start shooting. Twenty minutes and twenty-three arrows later and I have killed off the mob and finished my quest. My archery turned out to be as poor as I had thought it would be, but I survived with five arrows left. The question now is how am I going to get all these bodies over to the Elder.

Looking around my tree perch I see some soft green branches and use my dagger to saw them off. Ever try to trim a hedge? It’s like that except without the scissor action. My dagger dulls quick, but I manage to get enough branches together for a travois. It’s rickety and lashed together by vines, but all that matters is that I haul the bodies back home. It takes a few hours to follow my marked trail and pick up my extra body. From there it is a short, but exhausting walk back to the village.

As I draw near the goat herder sees me and runs to help me along. “Wow! You have quite a few there. I’m glad you didn’t die.”

“What the hell! You thought I would die?”

“Well, you didn’t think today would be easy, right? It may have been a long time since anyone at home died in the preparation for ceremony, but it has happened in the past. Besides you didn’t even bother to ask me about the Hedge Var and if they had any tricks.”

I can’t find anything to say back so I just pull harder on the travois to get back to the old man quicker. As I get near I see that all activity had stopped and everyone was dressed up and smiling in the center around a very large bonfire.

The old man is now dressed in an antlered outfit covered in numerous animal skins. It’s got to be hot. Since he seems to be waiting I lift one of the bodies and bring it to him and the crowd yells and hoots. Not sure what else to do I watch him closely and see him barely wave his hand back at the other bodies so I bring them to him one at a time. Each body is approved with louder and louder yells and hoots until the last when people start shaking and dancing.

As the eighth body is laid out the old man speaks again, “We have a new adult with us today who was a youth only this morning! Now we see that Kara Winters can gather and hunt, but does she know the rest of the skills needed for adulthood? Come Kara, feed our people and show us your skill.”

With that I am handed a sharp knife and instructed on how to clean and dress Hedge Var meat and cook it with the Cinnow stalks, as I had thought. The villagers were all trying to help me in this process some being helpful while some seemed to be intentionally trying to distract or direct wrongly. Clearly this too is part of the test. After much trial just to cook the thing it is finally finished.

“Being an adult is more than being able to eat food cleaned and cooked properly, it is also knowing how to discern teachers from fools and deceivers. You have proven you are an adult, but that does not mean you are a tribeswoman yet. With these skills you can survive the world, but the last test is fighting.”

“Here you must follow a set of dagger moves and you will have to show that you can master them quickly.” With this ominous speech I am approached by a person bulging with muscles shifting in the firelight. The sun had started to set during this time and trying to watch a dagger’s movement in dusk light is difficult. I have to watch him with all my focus on his movements and the dagger.

When he stops I am handed a wooded stick and told to demonstrate. The first movements were easy to duplicate as they were simple stabs, swipes, and hand switches; but, the last combination looked something like an acrobatic move with twisting and slicing all over the place. I do my best to copy it; however, I feel like a spaz.

As I come to the end I feel a smack in my stomach as the air suddenly becomes hard to breath. The next hit draws blood before I get my stick in place. Around me are three villagers dodging in and swiping or stabbing at me. Using the motions I just learned I block and parry many of the attacks. There are at least half a dozen nicks and slices on me by the end of the onslaught, but I don’t think they were really trying to kill me anyway.

Feeling no more attacks I hear the old man speak once more, “Kara Winters you have passed all the tests of Gathering, Providing, and Survival. You are now a part of our Laughing Crow tribe able to take your journey beyond with pride. All that is left is to find your totem guide.”

One of the tribesman approaches the old man with a large bowl filled with white fluid. “Elder,” they say as the hand him the bowl.

The old man turns to me with a wide smile and motions me to kneel down. Raising the bowl one final time to the air he sets it before my face and says, “Drink child; so, that you may be one with us.” What happens next is a wild mix of dream and reality. I couldn’t tell you which. All I know is that one minute I’m surrounded by crazy dancing and singing and the next I’m waking up again only this time I am not alone.

Unlike the last time I woke up, which was naked and cold, this time I’m still dressed in what I had on yesterday and feel too hot. When I opened my eyes, if it had not been for the windows in front of me I would likely have thought I was under attack.

Congratulations!

You have received your first totem! Drinking the earth milk attuned you to natural energies opening a link to the spirit guides of the Laughing Crow tribe. You have been judged worthy of a Greater Forest Lynx.

Greater Forest Lynx: Totem

A large breed of lynx, the Greater Forest Lynx is an evolved form of the Forest Lynx. This breed is known to range far, continue growing for fifty years, and live for two hundred years. The Greater Forest lynx is a deadly hunter with high intelligence. As a totem they are attracted to adventurers, warriors, and hermits.

Going by these messages it seems I now have a companion of sorts. I had not realized that totems would be flesh and blood, but in a way that makes this a lot less lonely for me. Looking at the weight covering me I see a cat big enough to completely cover my body. Yikes!

Feeling movement, the Lynx lifts it’s large head and looks at me with the prettiest cat eyes I’ve ever seen. They look like chipped ice all blue and silver, but I don’t get to appreciate it much as I get rammed in the head. Head butts are dangerous when the cat is this big. Rolling out from under it I straighten my clothes. “I bet you are hungry too, you big beautiful you.” I tell the lynx. I wonder if it will grow big enough to ride. That would be awesome. We head to the fire pit where the Elder is back in his old clothes stirring what smells like eggs and meat. Mmmmm. I can’t get enough of this food here.

“I see you were blessed with a Forest Lynx. It is a good companion to have on your journey.”

“Well, actually it is a Greater Forest Lynx.”

“Then it seems you may have a purpose to fulfill. The Spirit guides only grant evolved totems to people with destinies.” As he speaks a hooded crow lands on his shoulder. “This incorrigible guy is named Ixaka and is my totem. You couldn’t see them before, but that shouldn’t be an issue anymore. It is just the way the world has always been that youths cannot see or experience certain things.”

Looking around I begin to notice that there really are a lot of animals around the village. How could I have missed this before? Maybe it is related to game mechanics like instances. It would make sense in a way that before I was in the introductory pocket instance and now I’m in the fabric of the ‘real’ game. The transition probably happened when I knocked out after the drink or that could have been the transition.

“Before you leave the village I have some things you will find very useful. The first is a gift from Val, no hard feelings I hope? It is a travel bag.” Ding!

Inventory Unlocked

You now have access to the inventory system. Upgrading bags, pouches, satchels, and storage will increase the number of slots available.

Travel Bag: 15 slots inventory

A travel bag is a light weight, but sturdy bag used in travels to hold necessities and has a little bit of spare room for extras.

Finally! No more of this nonsense from yesterday where I had to manually carry things around.

“The tribe pitched in to collect things they felt would be useful to you on your journey, but you can check that out later. I also have for you this spear as it is important you have a weapon and walking stick I felt that this would work well together and save you extra weight to carry.”

A window pops up as I examine the spear. In the upper right I see a bar, but Genesis must have anticipated my question as it says, “Durability meters can be found in the upper right corner of windows when examining weapons.” Maybe it is one of those things where repeated actions are registered and adapt to the user? So the longer I play the less I will have to prompt for certain things? That will make window management easier later on, but especially important in the early stages.

Bronze Head Spear: 100%

A spear made with well crafted wood sanded smooth and a bronze spear head. Leather grips have been added at a height to use when walking.

“Now that you have received your gifts it is time for you to start your Journey.” The way he stressed the word journey made me think that it was a proper name for a special event. “As you should know, once reaching adulthood you leave the village to learn skills and discover yourself. Since you passed the Survival test and received a totem you are a member of this tribe. Other tribes you may encounter will let you enter their villages and buy or sell items. Should you Journey beyond our borders to the land of the outsiders you will encounter many difficulties, but I’m sure you will find lots of adventure. Journeys have been known to last a lifetime, but we always hope that Journeyers return. Go forth Kara Winters and find yourself on Journey!”

With that the Elder leaves me and I take a moment to inspect my inventory. Seeing I have no rope I ask a villager for some and they give it to me with no questions. It seems the tribe takes it seriously to equip a Journeying adult. To free up valuable space in the bag I equip the Fur Cape and Amulet. I am guessing the amulet is a symbol of the tribe, but don’t want to spend my day looking at windows.

Looking at everything I should see where I’m at before heading out and think the word “Status.”

Status

Name: Kara Winters

Race: Human: Y-tekra

HP: 100%

SP: 100%

MP: 100%

Totem: Greater Forest Lynx

Skills

Archery: 20% Novice

Polearm: 15% Novice

Small Blade: 17% Novice

Animal Handling: 15% Novice

Hunting: 17% Novice

Tracking: 17% Novice

Natural Crafts: 16% Novice

Survival: 30% Basic

Magic

Shaman: 15% Novice

Fire: 15% Novice

Looks like the status panel from before about natural energies was about magic? Feeling a bump that almost topples me over I see the lynx is rubbing against my hip. In the bright light outside I can see his coat clearly shining with a mix of silver, tan, and black that almost seem to swirl with his movement. He is truly a stunning creature.

I should name him. He deserves a name and it will be tiresome calling him cat or lynx in the future. I tap my fingers against my leg as I think. “How about Bara?” I ask him. He jumps up when he hears my question and rubs my face. I guess he likes it. Bara it is. Now that everything is sorted with names and inventory I look around for a direction to go, but it seems Bara already has ideas and goes South.

Running to catch up I feel like the world is filled with possibilities; however, after a few hours I feel how out of shape I am with blisters on my feet and the pack weighing my back. Wow, blisters! Despite the pain, I push on because this isn’t the inescapable pain from real life. Here in this world the pain is transitory and mark of the progress I make improving myself; so, naturally I walked until my muscles started to shake before looking for a campsite.

Sadly, it didn’t take very long for me to hit muscle fatigue. While I’m resting on a log, Bara runs up and drops a fat bird at my feet before stalking away smirking with his stubby tail up in the air “Aw, thank you Bara! I’m not sure if you are feeding me because I’m a terrible hunter or that you wanted to give me a present, but I thank you all the same.”

Not wanting to deal with feathers or the smell or burning feathers I use my dagger to slice down the chest and pop the body out of it’s skin leaving the wings behind as too troublesome. The process of cleaning an animal is very real in For Glory as the smell of offal and raw meat make me gag.

The sun is high overhead as I go about making a campfire to roast my bird. In order to keep it off the ground I had staked it nearby which seemed to amuse Bara quite a bit. He’s rolling around by the poll and teasing the carcass with swipes that just barely miss. Sighing I shake my head and get back to building a fire. It has been a long time since I tried the old fashioned way to light it up. After failing every method I could think of I finally remembered that I should have magic abilities.

“Genesis. Is there a help function for using magic abilities?” I say out loud. I figure it is worth a shot since I have no idea how magic is supposed to work in game. A point of light appears before me and Genesis folds out as silence blankets the space around me. Looking around I see that everything has frozen in place as I can see Bara is contorted mid flip while swiping at the staked bird.

“Greetings, Kara Winters, you have accessed the help function in game. Here you can select training programs or use auto assist to learn skills from the game.”

“Pulling up Novice level information on magic skills currently available to you.”

“You are Novice in Shaman and Fire magic. Shamanistic magic is an intuitive based system. What this means for you is that imagination and gut sense will allow you to learn your magic. This type of magic has a great deal of flexibility and is only limited by your ingenuity, but be warned that you cannot use it in any way that permanently damages the land or nature around you. As your primary magic system all additional magic systems will be based in part on intuition.”

“Fire magic is an elemental magic. To use it you have to understand and comprehend the essence of fire. As your understanding grows your ability to manipulate it will increase. To cast your first fire spell think of a candle flame and everything about how it moves, feels, and smells. Once the thought is firmly in your mind point at the object you want to burn and imagine the candle flame moving there.”

Genesis shrinks back to a dot and time returns as I think about what it said. Despite the “help” I found it to be extremely vague. Guess the developers didn’t want it to be easy. Alrighty then! Nothing to lose and everything to gain! I sit in front of the camp fire and focus on a candle flame. Imagining a flame and making it as real as possible in my mind isn’t something I do everyday, but I like to think I got it right. The next step was to move it to the stacked sticks and this was trickier than you would think imagining things should be.

It was during this process that I finally felt I was pushing against something. Relieved that I wasn’t just sitting by a pile of sticks imagining fire for no reason I strain against the resistance until finally it gives way and I almost fall face first into my crackling camp fire. Feeling my face for injuries I notice that one of my eyebrows was singed as the hair cracked and fell down my face tickling my nose. At least I’m alone out here.

“Look what I have created! I have made fire. I... Have made fire!” I shout as I dance around in mimicry of a actor from a old movie about survival. Lucky for me I have a real companion instead of a sports ball.

Having spent so much time on just making a fire I hastily prepare the bird meat to cook. Not sure whether I should have left the feathers on or not I had opted to cover with Cinnow leaves just in case and add a layer between the mud and meat. This method was something I hazily remembered reading about and figured it couldn’t hurt to try it here.

It’s been a long day already and I’ve just barely left the village. Cooking always seems to take longer when you watch it so I look over each skill window to take my mind off the delicious smells. Looking over each skill I saw that percentages increased slowly and that each skill was more in depth then I had first assumed. Pulling up the Survival skill panel I compared it to my current efforts.

Survival: Novice

Cooking +15% :17%

Simple Repairs +10%: 0%

Shelter +10%: 0%

Adaptive Shelter +5%: 0%

Camp Fire +3%: 0%

Alert +0% PER: 0%

Gathering +15%: 15%

Scavenging +0% DMG: 0%

Looking at this it seems the skills tested in the introductory phase brought me to novice level or were just part of the racial state. Some skills had direct effects to stats such as PER for perception, but some had nothing listed. Sensing my question I hear Genesis respond, “Skill stats without a modifier use a unique system in game that incorporates a random number generator with proficiency system. This creates a more realistic random success ratio. An example would be the camp fire you tried to create by traditional methods. At 0% proficiency you had a 3% chance to create a fire on your first attempt. With each successive attempt the percentage increased by 3%; so, your second attempt would have 6% and your third 9% to succeed. At this rate on your thirty-third attempt you would have a 99% success rate. Some skills will have a higher start from completing the race test the rest is based on a set range rng.” Haaa. This is tougher then it sounds. No wonder I failed so much grabbing Cinnow plants or trying to find the tracks.

“Genesis, why does completing the race test change the starting percentages?”

“The race test, as you know, uses brain scans to find preferences. Due to this, skills that the user knows already will have better percentages while those not known well will have worse. Some skills will be easier to learn because of this while others slower.”

Hmm. So this is a system that encourages real life skills. The more I learn the more complicated the game seems to become and that is when I remember that this is a game to begin with. There seems to be a lot of hidden systems in place.

Since I will be staying here the rest of the day to recover and practice basics to improve the rng I dig a latrine away in the shrubs for later. After all I would hate to dig a latrine when I needed to use the bathroom or, um, nature. So much had happened the day before that when I needed to go I had just popped a squat, however, now that I’m thinking about it seems strange I have to use the bathroom at all. Whether it is a mental requirement for long term or an immersion thing doesn’t matter at this point as it is a fact of this new life.

With my latrine dug and food cooking all that leaves me with is shelter. The air is dry and no clouds covered my journey so far, but just in case it rains I would prefer to have some sort of cover. Pulling branches together like when I made the travois except this time I’m just making a crude shelter using as much natural cover as possible. In other words it looks like a giant rat’s nest... Thank you rng. It isn’t great but it looks like it will sort of hold up.

This activity quickly tires me so I take another break to check on the food. One of the mud balls looks blackened, but the others are hardened nicely and just starting to crack. Using a stick I roll them to the edge to cool a while, but I’m hungry so I hot potato the ball as I try to open it. The meat is white and juicy and smells heavenly. Off to the side I see Bara had caught more food for himself as some point and was cleaning the blood off his mouth and claws. It’s a good thing, because I don’t want to share the food I cooked.

Even with a bare minimum of seasoning the food is something I am still trying to get to grips with here. When had we stopped eating real food? The first ball is gone before I know it and I’ve started on the second which is cooled just enough for me to not get burnt. Bara is chasing the blackened ball around the fire like a kitten. I once had a cat before, but my lifestyle made it hard to take care of it. In the end I had to let it go to a new home.

With a full belly it is hard to get up to practice with the dagger and spear. The only movements I know are what I had seen on TV and what the villager showed me, but if I am to improve them I needed to practice. I start with the dagger since I had some idea there. Doing the movements in the order shown last night I try to speed up and slow down each movement at different points. Perhaps if I have complete control over the dagger I’ll be able to confound enemies. At the end I try once again to recreate the whirling multi attack from the end of the sequence, but I end up smacking my head on a tree.

Well, that was a good stopping point and I put away my dagger and take out the spear and practice stabbing, slashing, and spinning. No idea if spinning is a good thing to practice, but if I can spin without dropping the spear than at least I’ll be able to block something. Fortunately I left the spear head cover on or I would have sliced my toes off a half dozen times.

Final outcome for skill training for three hours:

Polearm: Novice

Spear +.15% DMG: 15%

Glaive: 0%

Bardiche: 0%

Halberd: 0%

Spetum: 0%

Scyth: 0%

Thrust +.05% CRIT: 5%

Slash +0% DMG: 0%

Block +0% DEF: 0%

Throw +0% Range: 0%

Technique +.05% CRIT: 5%

Mounted +0% DMG: 0%

Small Blade: Novice

Dagger +.15% DMG: 15%

Dirk: 0%

Short Sword: 0%

One Handed: 5%

Duel Wield: 0%

Off Hand: 0%

Reverse Hold +.05% DEF: 5%

Thrust +.1% CRIT: 10%

Block +.05% DEF: 5%

Parry +.05% PARRY: 5%

Thrown +0% RANGE: 0%

Technique +.05% CRIT: 5%

Once done reviewing my efforts I become aware how tired I feel and lay down in my nest to sleep. A heavy body lays near me and warms me up as I quickly fall asleep petting Bara’s soft fur.