There was a sudden flash of blinding white light, and when the spot finally faded from Andius’ eyes, he suddenly found himself in the middle of the woods, a small circle burnt into the ground around him. “Well, that’s one way to handle a loading screen I guess?” he muttered to himself.

Looking around, he found that there was a small trail cut into the dense forest, but it looked like it didn’t get much foot traffic. Not knowing what else he could do just yet, he decided to follow the trail and see where it led. The world was alive around him as he walked, the smell of the forest air, the sounds of small animals going about their day in the undergrowth and the gentle breeze against his skin. It was all a combination of sensations that brought with them a sense of peace. He wondered if other players got to experience this sense of calm, or if they were immediately thrust into danger or into the bustle of a city?

He wasn’t bored in the slightest, in fact he was thankful that the game wasn’t hectic right off the bat, it let him enjoy this beautiful world that he had found himself in, the setting sun giving the green world a sleepy feeling… wait the sun is setting! Andius knew that in the real world, the forest gets far more dangerous at night, and if he didn’t find shelter, he would have to pray his luck held out until morning.

Andius stopped walking, looking around himself and his gear, trying to think of what he could do for himself so that he didn’t get caught unaware by a predator. HE looked up at the nearby trees, an idea working it’s way into his head as he found a particularly strong looking one, and walked over to it, examining the bark and branches. There was a spot that would be large enough for him to fit on, but the issue was getting up there…

Seeing as he didn’t have any better ideas, he wrapped his arms around the tree and tried to climb it, his feet slipping and faltering with the very first step and not getting any results whatsoever. A notification flashed in the corner of his vision however, and when it clicked it, he almost laughed.

——————

Climbing level: 1

Not every path is a paved road, those who truly want to get to their objective see ever mountain, every canyon, and every wall as a causeway. True masters of this skill can climb a tower wall as if it were a simple paved road!

+1x% climbing speed, where x is the level in this skill, x% increased chance of climbing difficult objects, where x is the level in this skill.

——————

A memory flashed in Andius’ mind, he was climbing a steep mountain face while a torrential storm poured down for them heavens upon him, every movement threatening to be his last as his limbs shook with exhaustion. Eventually, he made it to the top of a massive mountain, screaming his victory to the world.

As the memory faded back into the depths of his mind, Andius could do nothing but stand there in shock, he had never climbed a mountain like that. Was this the way the game taught players skills? By giving them false memories of them actually doing it?

Andius shook his head, that was cool and all, but he had a tree to climb. He looked back up at the tree and frowned, with his new skill level, he instinctually knew that the tree was a difficult climb, but he didn’t have many other option unless he wanted to risk running about in the night.

Determination set, Andius this time dug his fingers into the bark on either side of the tree and jumped up, wrapping his leather covered legs around its base and managing to hold fast. He let go with one hand to raise his purchase, and fell back off the tree, landing harshly on his back and knocking the wind from him self. With a groan he sat back up and shook his head, “Oh come on, whats with this game, throwing me into the woods right before nightfall?”

A sound of a twig snapping made Andrew immediately alert, his hands going to his daggers as he got back to his feet and looked around. Something just moved out there, in the few minutes before day turned into night, and the world was plunged into a half-darkness that some would say is worse than true night. A sudden blow from behind caused Andius to fall forward, losing his grip on one of his daggers to catch himself, and he turned quickly to see a wolf standing there, snarling at him.

The wolf looked starving, as if it hadn’t eaten in weeks and the glint of madness in it’s eyes showed just how ravenous it was. There were two other sets of eyes staring out and Andius from the tree-line, wolves always hunted in packs. Andius scrambled for his other dagger right before the wolf lunged at him again, and fear made him jab out with both daggers at once, no skill in the movements whatsoever.

There was a startled yelp from the wolf as one of the blades glanced against it’s ribs, and it fell to the ground, limping and snarling at the human that had dared to fight back! Andius understood that he had two choices at this point, stand and fight back, or get sent to respawn and have to regain all of this progress.

He took a low stance, one dagger held out in front of him, the other reversed in his hand against his chest.

The other two wolves rushed out of the underbrush, intent of throwing him off guard and overwhelm him with numbers, but Andius was ready this time, as one of the wolves went for his ankle, he jabbed at it with his reversed dagger, catching it on the shoulder and sinking deep into it’s matted fur. It jumped away from the stabby human just as it’s friend sank it’s teeth into his armored arm.

Andius screamed out in pain as he felt his bones grinding together between the powerful jaws, his dagger flying up to stab the wolf again and again, before the first wolf wrapped his teeth around his leg and pulled him to the ground, whipping it’s head back and forth to try and rip Andius apart. The wolf who had been attached to his arm fell away in a pile on the ground, but now Andius was on the ground, one wolf attacking his leg, the other going for his throat!

He shoved his arm at the wolf going for his throat, the pain making him cry out once again before one of his blades found it’s mark in the beasts neck, ending it’s life swiftly. With a throaty cry he shoved the starving animal off of him, and brought both daggers to bare against the one of his leg, which fell after the third jab, leaving him along, bleeding and bruised in the middle of the forest.

Andius lay there for a moment, just breathing and taking a moment to catch his breath. “That… was…” His voice came out quiet and exhausted, before he suddenly shouted, “AWESOME!” He laughed as he lay int he mixing blood from his enemies and himself, before finally sitting up and looking at his wounds. One of his arms was bleeding, the other had been protected by his armor, but his leg really hurt. “I mean, that was probably the most painful thing ever, but that was so cool!”

He stood up and wiped his blades off on the fur of one of the wolves before sliding them back into his sheathes, wincing at the pain of his leg. A flashing icon at the corner of his vision told him that he had notifications waiting for him, and so he mentally clicked it to see his gained from the battle.

——————

Dagger level: 3

It’s not always the size that matters, users of the small blades prove this in strides. Where a warrior might take on his opponent with sheer force, you use finesse, subtly and stealth to resolve your issues. True masters of this skill can lay waste to entire armies without breaking a sweat!

+2*x% damage when using daggers, where x is the level in this skill. +x% chance to ignore armor and critically strike when using daggers, where x is the level in this skill. Damage with daggers is doubled when backstabbing.

——————

Light armor Level: 2

Whereas warriors wear metal, and mages wear their fancy robes, you prefer the middle ground, leather armor and the like protect you from minor blows while your agility protects you from the devastating ones.

-x% hindrance while only wearing light armor. +x% noise reduction while only wearing light armor.

——————

Congratulations, you have reached level 2! You now have 5 attribute points to spend across your stats, and 3 skill points to spend on your skills!

——————

A sense of Euphoria enveloped Andius as memories came flooding back, in the first, he was trailing a noble through a crowded street, waiting for the right opportunity to strike, and eventually takes the poor mans life. In the next, he is standing in a compound taking blows from an instructor while wearing light armor, the man explaining how to move to take blows more lightly.

Once again, the memories fade from his mind, as if they never existed, and suddenly he knew how much of a shoddy job he did in that fight, his form with both the daggers and the way he held himself were both way wrong! He shook his head at his own foolishness, and looked to his status sheet. He almost dumped all of his new points into constitution for more HP, but stopped himself at the last second, wasn’t he supposed to be doing a stealth build?

After thinking for a while, he decided to put two points into dexterity, one point into constitution, and two into strength. He knew that strength was a bit of a waste since he was going into a speed build, but he knew the extra muscle would come in handy eventually. He hit confirm, and his wounds all suddenly sealed up, even the blood and dirt that had gotten onto his armor washed away, leaving him perfectly clean and free of any grime! “Well, that’s a handy feature. Maybe if I keep leveling up, I wont have to bathe my character?… Wait, that’s probably a thing here huh?”

He chuckled at the thought of having to brush his characters teeth and looked to his skills next. He didn’t have very many skills yet, but he knew he needed some kind of edge to survive the night, the sun would be fully set in just a minute or two, and he needed a plan. He let out a sigh, knowing he would regret it in the future as he put all three points into his climbing skill.

The moment he hit confirm, he saw the points drain away, and different climbing techniques and muscle memories wormed their way into his head. He grinned as the information came in, and turned to the tree once more. 4% increased chance to climb it wasn’t much, but it was leagues better than he had before, plus he had a much higher climbing speed if he could actually do it! He jumped up and grabbed into the bark again, foot finding purchase on either side of the trunk, and this time he was able to do it!

He clambered his way up to a branch about twelve feet up and sat on it, removing his cloak and using it to tie himself to the tree. “Nothing to do now but wait I guess. Let’s have a look at the gains!” With a mental flex, he pulled up his new status sheet.

Name:Andius

Level: 2

EXP:10/200

Specialization: N/A

HP:110/110

Stamina:180/210

Mana:0/0

Strength:10

Dexterity:21

Constitution:11

Intelligence:12

Charisma:23

Wisdom:7

Andius beamed a smile as he saw the new gains to his skills, his mana was still locked at zero, but he would fin a solution for that eventually. For now, he was more than happy at the fact that his dexterity had shot up his stamina, that would mean he would be able to run farther and fight longer. Apparently climbing consumed stamina, but that made sense.

He looked down at the carcasses below him and frowned, wondering if the smell would attract more predators. With any luck they would ignore him in favor of the free meal below.

Know this! You have been asleep for 8 hours in the real world, would you like to log out?

“Wow, eight hours already? Maybe I spent too much time in character creation or something.” He shrugged, figuring this was a perfect time to log out anyways. “Yes, Log Out.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he was suddenly staring at the inside of his helmet, fully awake and not even groggy.

Andrew sat up and yawned, pulling off the headset and looking around his filthy apartment. “Well… guess I gotta go to work…”