Cling cling cling cling

Lawrence opened his eyes and was partially blinded by the sunlight.

Sitting up, he looked around and there was a man kneeling beside him. He was wearing a suit of leather armour that seemed to be pretty weathered. He had a small scar on his chin and a bushy beard. His curly brown hair was tied into a bun. In his hand was a bow and on his back, a quiver of arrows.

“Ah, you have awoken. You’re lucky I got you out, you know.” the man said happily, his voice gruff but warm.

“What, I—“ Lawrence stuttered and that was when he realized something. The escape menu was not working. He pinched himself and instantly felt the pain. The pain was not something you could experience in the game.

Looking at himself, he could see that he was dressed in the very same armour that his character, David Brood had been wearing. Even his sword was sheathed there.

On the other hand, the man who was no doubt a hunter laughed at Lawrence’s reaction, which he interpreted as being happy to be alive.

“No need to thank me! I was just looking for some Blue Mushrooms, but I saw you there, face down in the mud and still breathing! Name’s Craig, Craig Tumbleton by the way.”

Lawrence, who was freaking out internally, did his best to keep calm. He was still able to access his inventory interface along with many other features. Of course, he was not able to access that bloody escape menu.

“Ah, Craig, thank you for your rescuing me. Can I ask, where is this place?” Lawrence asked politely while attempting to access the map function at the same time.

“Ah, this is Black Bay Village, we are a small fishing village a few leagues from here. You are from?” Craig asked, reaching his hand out to Lawrence, who grabbed it and with Craig’s help, pulled himself up.

Lawrence knew that even among the new update, which he did research before, as well as in the entirety of the world of Ever Dawn, there was no such place. Therefore, this means—

“New world…” Lawrence mumbled to himself and Craig, not hearing Lawrence bent forward a little bit.

“Pardon?” Craig said and Lawrence, realizing how rude he was, with a smile—

“My name is Lawrence Carstein, I am from Singapore.”

“Singapore? Never heard of that one! Is that one of those fancy cities?” Craig asked, scratching his head but Lawrence shook his head.

“It is a trading city. Ah, you were looking for blue mushrooms, weren’t you?” Lawrence said, accessing his inventory. Lawrence then opted to take out 5 Glowing Blue Mushrooms. He had plenty left and he was sure the thousands of unopened loot crates had more as well.

Lawrence then realized that as he took it out, his hand would involuntarily reach into his bag and take them out.

As Craig’s eyes landed on the mushrooms, his face turned pale and his body trembled.

“My friend, t-the-these are Glowing Blue Mushrooms?” Craig asked, swallowing his saliva, as if unable to believe what he was seeing.

“They are what you’re looking for, yes?” Lawrence asked, puzzled at the reaction.

“B-B-But their glow always dies when they are harvested, those that can still glow can get you at least… 3 gold coins, no, 5 for just one!” Craig asked, his lips trembling.

Eh? Blue Mushrooms lose their glow when harvested? Lawrence had never come across that before, even in the world of Ever Dawn.

“No matter, you saved my life. This is nothing.” Lawrence smiled, pressing it into Craig’s trembling hands.

However, Lawrence now had a problem. Now, it seemed as if Lawrence had saved Craig’s life, not the other way around.

Craig had almost knelt down and kowtowed to thank him for giving him these 5 Glowing Blue Mushrooms and thanked him for his generosity.

“You must be a noble!” Craig exclaimed and Lawrence shook his head quickly. If he was really in another world, Lawrence hoped that he would not attract the wrong kind of attention, especially if word leaks out that he may have been a noble.

“Do you mind being my guide and leading me to your village?” Lawrence asked and he noticed that his HP and mana were both full, so it should be fine.

“That will be no problem at all!” Craig said happily, gingerly placing the Glowing Blue Mushrooms into his backpack after wrapping it in what seemed to be—

Ah, the user interface is telling him that those are bear pelts.

Lawrence quickly looked at his equipment and he realized something. In real life, he would never have been able to move a single inch with this armour on, now, it felt light and easy to use.

Craig had placed Lawrence on his own tower shield and dragged him out. Lawrence picked it up and it felt almost feather-like.

“Let’s go, Mr Carstein,” Craig said respectfully and Lawrence laughed.

“Lawrence is fine, let us go.”

Craig led Lawrence through the forest path and as he conversed with Lawrence, the latter realized through his experimentation with the skills interface that he had could possibly be a bit more than a marketing executive who got stronger.

He had randomly selected to turn on Passive Prospecting, a skill in Ever Dawn that would have allowed him to look for precious ores or gems that could be mined in his field of sight.

To his surprise, he was able to see a copper vein being pointed and highlighted to him, of course, he kept quiet about it.

Does this mean that in combat—

Lawrence shook his head.

He had realized that he may most likely have died when his landlord came to warn him about the electric surge, but he would not like to die again.

Craig was a family man, with a wife and a beautiful daughter by the names of Laura and Quenya respectively. The fishing village had about 50 people living in it, with most of them either being fishermen, farmers or hunters. They sell their goods to a merchant caravan that rolls through town once a month and buy necessities that they need from them as well.

The Black Bay Fishing Village is part of Lord Black’s domain, in which he swears fealty to Count Boulevard who in turn is loyal to King Carmine of the Carmine Kingdom.

Oh, a real-life fantasy story, was what Lawrence thought to himself as Craig chatted with him about these facts happily. Lawrence had said that he was an adventurer who had wandered about after losing his home to a fire from Singapore and had been on the roads for a long time.

After walking for some time, Craig smiled and with a flourish of his hands, announced, “Welcome to Black Bay Village!”