“AAHHHHHHHAHABBBBRRLLBB”

Okay okay , quick recap.

Kyle looked up at the smiling fairy as she spoke “Watch your step!” suddenly the ground beneath him disappeared completely, gravity did its job…in this case fucking Kyle over and pulling him down, down towards apparent oblivion.

His descent caught speed as Kyle stared down at an expanding light within the darkness, “LLBBRRRLLB?” he apparently also couldn’t form words due to air resistance. The light engulfed him and he was finally able to see the ground, cold hard ground. A blizzard raged on around him as the sunlight mildly broke through the clouds down onto the ground below, “AEWWWSSHTT” a flock of birds was flying right below him as he sped downwards.

The birds numbered in the dozens and looked similar to vultures but were completely white feathered with a light blue skin, Kyle tried to turn and spin around as he came into contact with the birds. “CAHH!” the birds screeched and flew out of his way but one unlucky fellow ended up being hit straight on, the vulture held onto Kyle’s chest as it screeched loudly into his ear while Kyle tried to push it off.

He managed to spin with the bird and threw it off him, unbeknownst to Kyle this put him…slightly off course, he glanced behind him as he fell face down seeing the ground quickly getting closer. A silent prayer went through his mind along with multiple curses towards a certain fairy. His world went white.

[Tundra Vulture Level 5] has been killed utilizing [Fall damage] Player [Kregzosm Level 2] has been killed utilizing [Reverse Flying Press] Reputation negatively affected = -1 rep; Current rep = -1 Active skill gained [Reverse Flying Press] Progress towards class [Wrestler] = 30%

Multiple notifications popped up in the bottom left of his peripheral vision, when he focused on a certain notification it expanded.

Kyle took a deep breath as he lay a couple inches inside the snow, he forced himself up and studied his UI. Towards the top left he saw a single green bar along with his character name and level next to it

Kyllix Level: 1

Health: [ 2/10 ]

He moved his attention back to the notifications and inspected them one by one (“So that vulture died from the fall after I hi…crashed into it…What’s a Kreg- Oh a player name…wait how did I?...”) he took a step away from the small human shaped crater his body made, turning around he inspected it and to his surprise a couple red flasks lay inside “No way…”.

He crouched down and picked all three flasks up, each was no larger than his index finger and held a fluorescent red liquid. Suddenly as he inspected the flask a small window appeared in his peripheral vision with the object’s name

Basic Health Potion[+5 cHP]

He looked back at his health bar then shrugged “Bottoms up” he pulled the rubbery cork out of one flask and gulped the red liquid down. “Tastes like cherries, sweet” as he savoured the flavor he noticed his health bar fill up.

Health [ 7/10 ]

(“Guessing cHP is for current health points?”), he closed the empty flask back up and stored all three into one of his pockets.

He continued to read through the notifications “Seriously? Already negative rep? Hell…Reverse what?...” Kyle groaned as he looked back at the window “Wrestler…a class…Hell no!” he looked away from the window and it disappeared. “Alright…where the hell am I?” he looked around at the tall snowy trees and deep snowy ground, he sighed “I should get windows to open if I think about em…” interestingly enough another notification appeared after that line of thought;

To open the [Help] window simply think about it.

He thanked nobody in particular and did as was told, a wide window opened with a scroll bar to the right. “Oh sweet the thought binds, let’s see where is the bag…that’s skill book…that’s character…map…Oh I see it’s just called inventory” from his earlier experience with DVR technology he already knew how to open the specific windows but needed to know exactly what they were called, (“Inventory”) he thought and the window opened making the Help window shrink to make space for it.

“Empty?...Huh…” he scrolled through the Help window more “Ah…to store items..hhmm..mhm…” he pulled out all three flasks and thought about storing them, the flasks suddenly disappeared and two icons appeared in his inventory window.

Kyle closed the inventory containing a stack of two [Basic Health Potions] and a [Basic Potion Flask], then went through each possible window and interaction that he could find on the [Help] window. He opened the map to figure out where he was currently, after a couple moments of empty staring “The fuck is this?...”;

[Map progress] = 0% [Map controls] Tap once to add marker, hold and drag to mark paths. Both will give a naming option once complete.

“Alright…how do I…know where I’m at?...” Kyle scratched his head as he stared at the map then glanced around but all he could see was snowy forest “Unarmed, classless, level one and lost…Sounds like a rebirth cliché…”, he closed the map and sighed “Might as well go over my stats and abilities…” he thought of his character page and a new window opened;

“Might as well check the help window…some attributes here I do not recognise…” he reopened the [Help] window and selected the stats option from the presented menu list.

He began to read through (“Stats similarly to skills have two categories, the first is general stats; STR, DEX, AGI,INT,WIS,VIT,PER and M.S. which are unlocked from the start for all players. The second is unlockable stats that are unlocked as the player gains passive or active skills that effect those stats, a player may focus their attention on a stat to be provided additional information. Additionally, all stats fall under two other separate categories called Additive and Specialised. Additive stats are general additions that can effect specialised stats. Specialised stats fall under a certain general stat and gain from it while still having their own value, if a specialised stat is 5% and their generalised stat is 5% then the specialised stat will now be 10%.”) As Kyle read he stepped back and laid down with his back to a tree.

(“Lastly, Additive stats have the [ADT] acronym by them while Specialised stats have [SPE] and the player may open the [ADT stats] window for a sorted list of their additive stats with the corresponding SPE stats beneath them.”) he sighed and chuckled “Nothing’s simple in this game huh?” he rested his head onto the tree’s trunk and thought open the [ADT stats] window;

He went through each of his stats and their additional information (“That’s…a lot to take in…I guess the most important parts are that carry weight has a limitation, magic stats require a magic skill to be seen in effect and that aggro chance is its own stat…Now what skills do I have that unlocked all these stats…”) Kyle opened his skill book window and began inspecting it;

“I could read the general information of the passives and actives in character creation but here I can see the exact stats, Frost Aura doesn’t sound very useful now…and mana? I don’t have a mana bar? Ah wait…” he momentarily focused on activating Frost Aura, suddenly a vibrant silver aura appeared a couple meters all around him emitting repression and cold.

He noticed a blue bar appear beneath his Health bar.

Health: [ 7/10 ]

Mana: [ 96/100 ]

This was his mana bar and it was draining at a steady pace just as the aura’s range began to decrease over time. He cancelled the ability “I’ll have to find a monster to test it on…Next…Reverse Flying Press…just what the…oh…no…” he at first frowned as he read the ability but suddenly his frown turned into astonishment as he possibly figured something out.

(“Current weight…that’s around 70 and velocity…with how far up I fell from…a lot…divided by ten and added STR…Good lord I wrecked that kid…”) he then looked at his two bars, his health was still 7/10 but his mana was slowly regenerating, “Health doesn’t regen? Wonder how much a potion would cost…Hell I don’t even have any money…” frustration began to settle in as he held onto the tree to stand up.

“Might as well look around, if I die I should get respawn options…” suddenly his eyebrows went wide as he walked back over to the now slightly covered humanoid shape in the snow, “Hah! Footsteps…So that player came from…” he began trying to follow the almost invisible footsteps through the trees and bushes. He followed the tracks for a bit until they ran out (“Well..at least I have a general direction…The footsteps didn’t turn much so..”) he kept moving in the general direction the tracks came from.

Suddenly Kyle began to quicken his steps until he broke off into a full run, off in the distance a red glow seemed to fill the tree line. After a couple moments of running he came to a stop at the forest’s edge “Hohoho..Dayum..” as he gazed in amazement his legs continued to slowly move forward, head high he gawked at the sight in front of him.

Like titans watching over the forest gigantic pillars rose way above the trees, standing hundreds of meters high each pillar was pitch black with strange carvings glowing a bloody red. Each pillar seemed to stand kilometres away from each other and in between them a dark red translucent wall denied any that would try to pass, Kyle began to run towards the closest pillar which still stood a good jog away. “Holy shit…Holy shit…that’s so bad ass!” he kept staring at the Pillars while running, “Shi-” he tripped on something and fell face first into the snow.

Pushing himself up with his arms he turned and glanced at what he tripped on, a large stone lay mostly covered by the snow “Fell from the sky hitting a bird on the way down, crashed into a player killing him, lost in the woods and now add tripped on a fucking stone to the list…” he spat at the stone and stood up.

You’ve been debuffed! [Mental Strain] You’ve been debuffed [Repressive Aura] You’ve been debuffed [Extreme Fear] Lesser Demon has targeted you!

Following the spam of notifications Kyle felt a grim and dreadful fear chilling his bones, he slowly turned with eyes wide open at the red wall of energy.

“Wa…ww…wa…” There it stood behind the wall about twenty feet tall and redder than blood, pitch black eyes staring down into Kyle’s soul, head full of horns for hair and two large torn leather wings. The demon hissed as it stood hunched back on curved legs, it’s fangs dripping with fresh blood. It slammed it’s claws into the barrier making it shudder, blue translucent inscriptions appeared where the attack landed. It hissed angrily as red energy jolted it’s hands forcing it to take a step back, it momentarily stared at Kyle as he stared back motionless then it turned slowly and walked back into the white forest.

Achievement unlocked [Meet a Demon]: Face your very first demon and survive to tell the tale

“That’s fucked up…” his voice slightly cracked as he spoke, his legs shook beneath him and his hands trembled but his wide grin didn’t lie. He whistled while staring at the demon slowly disappearing into the trees, “What level was that thing? When do I get to fight that?” he straightened up as he laughed.

Suddenly a voice called out “Higher than you son and whenever you want. The real question is can you survive it?” Kyle turned around to see the heavily armour individual, “I guess so huh?” (“An NPC?”) the guard wore gleaming iron heavy plate armour while wielding a long spear and square-shield. “You lost adventurer? It’s unusual to see new arrivals here at helix!”. Kyle felt relief as he could finally figure out where he was “Yeah I am actually, would you mind pointing the way towards the nearest town or city?”, the guard chuckled “That would be right the way you came” he pointed directly back into the forest “Frosthold is directly that way, just head straight and you’ll get there in a quarter or so”.

Kyle frowned “Any quicker way for me to get there?...Like a teleporter to some spawn point?..”

The guard shrugged “Not really no…Spawn point’s right outside the city gate yeah but to spawn there it’s a one way trip to you know where…”.

Kyle’s frown grew more wrinkled “Guess I don’t got much choice…So what are the penalties of ‘Respawning’ anyway?”.

The guard scratched his shaven chin “Well that depends on your level, below level 340 you lose a level and drop anything inside your inventory. At level 340 you lose nothing due to the whole level being inside a special dungeon, above 340 you simply drop everything in your inventory, in your equipment and lose a level but cannot go below 340”

Kyle burst out into a laugh before the guard finished, “Something wrong adventurer?” the guard was the one frowning now.

“Oh nothing important…Hah…What’s this about a special dungeon? And 340? Seriously? What’s the level cap?” he calmed himself down while he awaited the guard’s response.

“The cap is level 499 while the dungeon I spoke of is the Ascension Trial, a quest every adventurer goes on to earn their wings to the dominion capital's Sky Top Haven. A city made for adventurers that exists above our own Eslet.”.

As the guard finished explaining Kyle began to eye the closest pillar “How high is that pillar?”

The guard seemed confused by Kyle’s sudden change of topic and momentarily blanked out before responding “Specifically six hundred meters tall, why you ask?”.

Kyle opened his active skill book and stared at it for a couple moments, “Perfect…Is there any way up there? To the top of the pillar I mean”

The guard absent mindedly looked Kyle up and down as if he were a mad man “You wish…to climb the pillar?...”.

Kyle shrugged “Yeah, can you not?”

At that response the guard held onto his face and responded “Yeah you can…the inside is a spiral staircase but…”

Kyle didn’t give the guard enough time to finish and began heading to the closest pillar, a quiet mumble went unheard from behind him “Adventurers…The Major said they’re a strange bunch…”. After a short jog Kyle made it to the pillar’s base where a single entrance lay open “I actually wonder why they would make a staircase all the way to the top of these things…definitely not why I want to go up there anyway…”, he stepped inside the dimly lit pillar and began to climb up the wide smooth steps.

Due to excessive physical strain you’ve gained a stat increase! [VIT + 1] Due to excessive physical strain you’ve gained a stat increase! [STR + 1]

Kyle took in heavy breaths as he finally reached the top “Fuck…off…system…”, a cloud filled sky welcomed his gaze as he sat down on the smooth black material that made the whole pillar. “Alright…Hah…phase 2…after…a minute….”

He took a short rest from the trek and found that his stamina recovered much more quickly than it would have in real life “Hell I’d be dead if this were real life…”, he stood up and walked to the edge of the pillar facing the other side of the wall “Let’s see if I can get their attention”. He seemed to be looking for something within the gigantic forest below, “Target acquired…time for phase 3…HEY! YEAH YOU! UGLY ASS BASTARD! OVER HERE!” he began shouting down into the forest as loud footsteps accompanied his voice along with an ear piercing hiss.

“Final phase…hope I don’t miss…” the demon broke through the trees and hissed towards Kyle, it then slammed into the pillar only to get the same reaction as previously. “That’ll do…alright…Let’s see what ratio of health points you have…I will need to figure out what level you are exactly too…” a grin curved its way up his right cheek while he slightly bent towards the edge, after taking a deep breath he launched himself off.

(“Reverse Flying Press!”) he activated his skill the second he leaped off, using the momentum of his leap he turned and aimed his right elbow downwards while holding it with his left hand.

“Woooohooo!” with a grin plastered on his face Kyle descended with accelerating speed as his skill increased in power, down below the demon opened up its mouth and awaited the free meal. The guard watched flabbergasted as Kyle’s body fell down towards the mouth agape demon, a silent prayer forming in his mind.

Flesh ripped apart, blood splattered and bones broke as the two collided. The guard continued to stare wordlessly at the sight that presented itself in front of him, at the same time Kyle’s world grew dark as the last of his health points disappeared.

Lesser Demon [Level 73] has killed you utilizing [fallDamage(Vel,pVit,pStr,mW);] You have died! Death penalty (Unavailable [Minimum Level reached]) No bound respawn points found Logout or spawn at closest respawn point?

(“Respawn to closest point…”) Kyle regained his sight momentarily after picking an option, he looked up and around “Well that went as expected...So definitely more than 425 hp above level 70…Damn I only got 10! Wish this game had monster health bars…”

Title unlocked [Mad man]: Deal damage to a monster or player 50 Levels above you;

+10 STR,

-1 PER,

-1 WIS,

Fear chance + 10%

“Why do these achievements and titles feel like some sarcastic inner monologue?” he sighed and began to take in his surroundings, he was currently standing on top of a small circular platform about a foot high with runic inscriptions surrounding its circumference.

To his right was the forest of snow and to his left was a stone wall about three storys high, a sliding gate stood guarding the entrance to the city a couple feet away from where Kyle respawned. (“Finally…civilization!”) the wall looked completely medieval with ballista towers every couple meters and archers lining the wall, by the gate two guards wearing chain mail armour stood laid back checking all who entered.

Kyle walked up to the gate just as a small cart being pulled by a single chestnut brown horse went through, “Halt!” one of the guards straightened up and walked over to Kyle. The guard glanced at Kyle’s hands ”You’re no citizen of The Dominion, walk away and spare us the waste of time” the other guard was watching attentively, “Citizen? How do I become one?” Kyle scratched his head and was surprised to remember he has animal ears.

The other guard began to walk over while the one in front of Kyle chuckled “A petty thief wants to become a citizen? Walk away trash, or we’ll have to force you away”.

Kyle frowned at their behaviour “Trash?”(“They must know about my negative reputation…”) he understood the problem but never was one to take insults from strangers lightly. Suddenly a cold aura began to emanate from Kyle, it washed over the guards as they unsheathed their short swords and took a combat stance.

Kyle glared at the two guards as they glared back “Wonder what level a guard of a shit ci-” he was cut off as suddenly a hooded figure walked up from behind him and put his arm around Kyle’s back and shoulders “Please excuse my friend here, he’s not from around…”.

The man pulled Kyle away from the guards as they continued to glare, “First time here and you pick a fight with the guard? You adventurers are always such a handful!” the man released Kyle after leading him away from the gate and sat down on a large rock by the wall.

Kyle looked the man up and down, he wore a grey cloak with leather armour beneath it “Who are you? And what was that about?” (“Figured there would be a way in for unsavoury reps…”).

The man gave him a toothy grin “My friends call me Regg and that is what happens when someone with negative reputation tries to stroll into a city without certification”. The man pulled out a knife making Kyle tense up, he then pulled out a block of wood and began cutting away at it.

“So how do I get certified if I cannot even enter the city?” Kyle crouched down and watched the man carve the wood block, Regg chuckled “You shoulda thought about that before you screwed someone over! But there may be a way for you to gain an…’unofficial citizenship…’”.

Regg’s answer made Kyle stare at him in disbelief “Just…spit it out already…”(“Stop beating around the god damn bush old man…And it wasn’t exactly my fault…fucker shoulda stood outside my…landing?...”)

Regg continued to chuckle as he stood up “I’m guess you ain’t got no coin?”. Kyle straightened up and shook his head making Regg sigh, “Well then there’s only one way, follow me adventurer” he gestured by tilting his head away from the gate.

Kyle followed Regg wondering if he was going to end up as a bandit or being locked up by bandits, he’d prefer the first… They began walking away from the city and back into the woods “Where we going?” said Kyle as he followed the man cautiously.

“You’ll see soon enough, ain’t sayin it out loud over here. Old Regg would lose his tongue!” they continued to walk through the snow and trees until the wall was no longer within sight. “This way” Regg walked over to a thicker than average tree and stared up at its branches, he whistled a bird call and stood there waiting.

Kyle stared up at the branches expecting a rope ladder to drop down (“Wait seriously? Bandit tree house?”)

Regg sighed “Little…” he knocked on the tree trunk multiple times. (“What’s he doing?...signal code?”) Kyle stared as the old man went from lightly knocking on the tree to bashing his fist on the trunk “OI! OPEN UP! OR I SWEAR I’LL COOK YOU ON A SPIT IF YOU DON’T YOU DUMB GOBLIN!”, suddenly the sound of thrashing came from inside the large tree trunk.

A peek hole appeared in the wood as a small yellow eye watched them “Rat tail wasn’t napping! No no! Rat tail was just-” Regg breathed out in exasperation “Just open up you little shit!”.

After the eye disappeared and the hole closed up further thrashing sounds could be heard from within the tree, a couple moments of standing around later the wood parted like a door and opened up upwards.

(“Now that, is a hidden entrance”) the entrance was wide and tall enough for a car to drive through, standing within it was a short grey skinned humanoid with long flappy ears and a long pointed noise. The goblin grinned mischievously “Master brings new comer?! Mistress will be pleased!”

Reg passed by the goblin glaring furiously at it “Close behind us” and walked down the staircase within. Kyle followed him down as the goblin turned a wheel making the tree trunk close up again, darkness filled the staircase as Kyle could barely see where he was going. Deep down he could make out some light but had to be careful with each step he took until then, from the sounds of Regg’s footsteps the man was well accustomed to the darkness and was descending much more quickly than Kyle.

“Why don’t you light this up?” Kyle asked as he tried to figure out how ahead of him Regg was “Torches could light the whole tree up, the inside is pretty dried up cause of the entrance and magic could be detectable by the legitimate guilds”.

The descent was a good couple storys below ground level making Kyle wonder “How’d you manage to build this?”, Regg grunted making Kyle jump as he was now closer than before

“We didn’t, local goblin tribe did and in return for our protection and trading routes they allowed us to set up here. Of course hiding the entrance was all up to us, this way”. Suddenly Regg lit up a torch and gestured towards the wall to the side of the staircase, he pulled a stone from the rocky wall and the sound of gears filled their ears.

Suddenly the wall parted giving way to a dark corridor “Then what’s down there?” Kyle pointed down towards where the staircase would actually end, Regg stepped through the new hidded pathway

“The goblin’s village, if you want to clean up your pockets be my guest and head down there”.

Kyle shook his head “Pocket’s clean already, don’t got anything on me. Was just curious” he followed the man through the doorway and Regg pushed in a brick in the wall making the double stone doorway close behind them. (“Wait…is this tunnel taking underneath the city?”) Kyle tried to figure out their current direction as he followed Regg through the tunnel, he didn’t know how low they had descended but this tunnel was definitely heading towards the city.

The tunnel curved a bit making Kyle unable to see it’s end, even if it didn’t the light the torch gave wasn’t that great. When they finally reached the tunnel’s end Kyle was surprised by the security, four torches lay lit on each side of the tunnel and at the end three holes where dug into the wall for bandits to hide within. At the very end of the tunnel was a bulky wooden door reinforced with metal “Smart cover in a tight entrance, even if they knew you were here an army wouldn’t survive this” Kyle was amazed by this but was sure his friends would have some ‘Better’ ideas for hideout defence.

“Hah! You didn’t notice didn’t ya? There be more of that cover throughout the path, the darkness is a good friend of ours!” Regg spoke with pride as he walked over to the door.

“Huh..” Kyle momentarily glanced back down the tunnel wondering what else he did not notice, he then turned back and continued to follow Regg. The man took off his hood revealing a short dirty blonde cut with an ugly shaved scar above his left ear, he knocked on the door with what seemed to be a password before someone opened up.

A burly Bearman welcomed them in “Ey Regg, new recruit you got there?”

Regg nodded and walked in “Kid tried to stroll through the gate then almost picked a fight with the guard!” the two chuckled at Kyle’s venture then traded pleasantries.

The Bearman extended his hand as Kyle walked through the doorway “Name’s Kai, I’m the gatekeeper around here” Kyle shook Kai’s hand grimacing at the man’s iron grip

“Kyl-Kyllix, name’s Kyllix. What is this place?” they now stood within a small room with a table in the middle and another door on the opposite wall of the one they came in from.

“Just some basic equipment and inventory checks before you head in, don’t want no magic trinkets to overhear conversations they shouldn’t!” Kai explained as he closed the door behind them and walked over to the wooden table, “Just drop off whatever you got in your inventory onto the table so I can inspect em” he gestured to the table.

(“Well shit…they ain’t going to believe…”) “I don’t have anything on me though…I had some potions but lost them when I respawned?...” Kyle readied himself as the two man looked at each other momentarily.

Kai shrugged “Just reveal your inventory then if ya ain’t got jack”

Kyle was taken aback by this “I can reveal my inventory to others?” gaining a howl of laugher from both NPCs.

“Ya don’t even know that and ye wanted to fight the gate guards? Ye mad alright son, just think of showing Kai yer inventory and you’ll be fine.” Regg explained with amusement, Kyle did as told and his inventory window popped up facing Kai

“Well I’ll be damned, you really ain’t got nothing on ya? How ye gonna pay the fee to join?”.

Kyle frowned at Kai’s question “Fee?” gaining a cough from Regg “Ah ye still gotta explain that to ya, kid needs citizenship to enter Dominion streets and ain’t got coin for the fee to join us either” Regg shrugged “Shirley needed some new face for something so I figured whatever she up to would cover both entry fee and Jior’s fee”.

Kai scratched his chin “Dunno, Jior’s fees are bastardly enough. Might be worth a shot, depends if he can pull it off”, he then walked over to the other door and pulled out a key “Well good luck with your business then” he unlocked the door for them as they walked over.

Kyle walked out of the room behind Regg and took in the bandit’s hide out, Regg patted him on the shoulder “Welcome to the hideout for the DuskBlades, Dusk’s retreat”.