Chapter 2

'' Resurrection''

You have been resurrected at the designated location. You have used 10% of your rebirth energy.

I found myself in front of a massive, dusty wooden door. Stunned, I looked around. Looming over the tombstones was the only structure in this place - the crypt. I’d been resurrected right next to it.

The cemetery was not guarded. A low, hammered iron fence, adorned with dead ivy, surrounded the perimeter. On one side, through the tall grass, one could see a path stretching into the distance; on the other was a dark forest. It was quiet and peaceful. A perfect place to pause and think.

''Bring up the interface.'' I said, without much hope. Nothing happened.

Damn, had I really gotten stuck in a virtual world? In some mad, unbalanced game at that? What should I do now?

That was a dumb question.

I was, however, certain of a couple of things. I had to deal with the basics, avoid dying, get to the nearest settlement and obtain some information. However, I had to be careful. Maybe they'll find me again. What if the surrounding area was under the control of those masked riders?

The most important thing was to stay calm.

I could already feel that awful, cold anguish in my chest. It would only get worse if I started panicking now! I had to get to work right away.

I’ll start with the logs! Although I’d managed to access them in the past, I didn't get the chance to read them. Last time I did it, it was to see the enemy's level. I'll try accessing them again,

As soon as the desire to read the logs formed in my mind, information about my resurrection and the lost afterlife energy appeared before my eyes. I found the previous system message as I mentally “scrolled'' the list. It got me thinking. There was a difference between the two following terms: “10% Lost” and “10% Used”. The second term seemed to refer to the cost of resurrection. But what about the first term? Was it a penalty for in-game death? Or were those EXP points, given to the rider that had killed me?

''Give me information about my afterlife energy.'' Immersed in my thoughts, I didn’t realize that I’d said the command out loud, even though I knew that I could just say it in my head.

An empty scale appeared in front of my eyes, stretching between the numbers “0” and “100”.

Oh, no… I don’t have that energy? I thought. I won’t be able to resurrect again if I die? Shit…Shit… I don’t like this at all!

Stop! I told myself not to panic. Let's make this my motto: If there’s a problem, I will solve it. That’s what I always did in real life. Why should the virtual one be any different?

“Give me all the information available about afterlife energy.”

The text appeared in front of my eyes the moment I’d clearly formulated the thought and removed the word ''my'' from the sentence. Once I was done reading, I let out a sigh of relief and turned towards the crypt's door.

This energy alone would not resurrect me. It needed to be placed into an object associated with death: a headstone, a tomb, a gravestone or something like that. That was the only way to create a resurrection point.

In a hurry to test my newly found knowledge, I asked for information about the energy I had invested into the crypt. I saw the same scale, but this time it was showing 80%. Pressing my palm against the door, I demanded that it give me half of it.

And it worked! 40% remained in the crypt, and the rest went inside me. It wasn't possible to take more. Otherwise, the spell connecting me to this place would break. Now I could find a graveyard in another place and invest my 40% into it. After that I would have a chance of withdrawing the remaining 40% out of this crypt. Like this, it was possible to change the point of resurrection.

Interesting. So, could I make two points then? Would both be only half full in that case? This would give me a choice of where to go after dying.

A loud, crackling sound coming from the forest pulled me out of my idle thoughts. I immediately gathered myself and turned toward the sound, only to see an eight-legged, disgusting carcass creeping out of the thicket.

''Little Spider Changed by Decay''

Level 5

HP: 219/219

“Little Spider”? That thing was the size of a sheepdog! Nasty and covered with rotting, bright green ulcers, it left a trail of putrid smoke behind itself. I suppose it’d be better to run away until I find out what I’m capable of.

As soon as I thought about running, the ''Little Spider'' arrived at its desired destination, and in a single jump, closed the distance between us. It hit my leg with one of its own.

You received 22 points of damage.

Grimacing in pain, I immediately got into a fighting mood. I couldn't die again. I had to win. I knew I had the pitchforks before. I hoped they hadn’t disappeared after my death, and were just hidden someplace in the inventory menu.

“Bring out the main weapon!” I commanded, as I leaned away from another attack. A familiar, poor man's version of a trident appeared in my hand. Without wasting any time, I attacked.

You dealt 21 points of damage .

My experience and reactions, which I’d trained playing VR games, helped me to avoid half of the enemy’s attacks. My body’s capabilities, luckily, weren’t worse than the ''Little Spider’s''. Naturally, he got me every other time, but I hit him every single time. So now, he only had 20 HP left.

Dodging another one of the ''Little Spider’s'' attempts at hitting me with its leg, which had a sharp claw at the end, I leaned forward, determined to defeat it. Suddenly, it arched, as if broken in half, and splashed its cobweb onto my boots. However, that didn’t save the vile thing. Slashing its side I lowered its life to 1 HP. With a nasty squeak, it backed away and fell onto its back, curling its legs to its stomach. Still feeling the heat of the battle, I was tempted to take a step forth and finish off the creature. However, my attempt at moving wasn’t successful. I looked down at my feet. The web had them firmly glued to the ground. I tried to cut it with the trident, but in vain. The tip got stuck in the sticky mass and I barely managed to yank it out. Irritated, I spat and crouched to scroll through my logs.

''Little Spider Changed by Decay'' used '' Web of Decay''.

Skill effect: immobilization.

Your movement is blocked by ''Web of Decay''.

''Web of Decay's'' effect will wear off in 10 minutes. The web is immune to physical attacks.

You caused 23 points of damage.

You defeated ''Little Spider Changed by Decay''. You received 247 EXP.

Level up. Current level: 5.

You can use the slaying skill on ''Little Spider Changed by Decay''.

Well, now that I’m temporarily immobilized, there’s only one thing left to do… Deal with my stats.

''Show my information,'' I said softly, addressing the local system.

The image of a black-haired tough guy, dressed in a dirty, white shirt and a vest, with traces of a slight stubble on his face appeared before me. At first glance, he looked like me. The height and weight seemed almost identical. Is that why I’d gotten this particular character?

There was a sign above the avatar’s head: “Peasant Bon. Level 5”. In the upper left corner were three lines. Red for “life” (124/230); blue for “mana” (100/100); and green for “energy” (126/220). To the right of the character was a list of main stats:

Vitality - 13

Endurance - 12

Strength - 18

Agility - 10

Intelligence - 0

Free stat points - 1.

Oh boy… I got a dumb one this time… Since I’d just leveled, I got an unallocated stat point. This Bon guy had probably been on level 4 when I’d entered his body. He must have distributed his points independently. However, he could have only spent a maximum of four points. This game probably had the usual scheme with ‘default’ stats for your character. But here was my main issue – even if the guy had no intelligence points, the system had to throw in at least 2 or 3 points, right? Otherwise, which stat determined the amount of mana?

I requested information about each of the stats. My suspicions proved correct. Health, mana and energy were distributed via a simple formula: 100+10*X. X being the according stat. Health depended on one's vitality and mana on intelligence. There was also something about quicker regeneration but information was vague about that.

However, energy was a bit trickier. It depended on one's endurance and was constantly used up on movement and battles. Because of that it needed to be monitored, otherwise you risked stumbling upon your enemies while exhausted. The speed of its consumption was not specified. Actually, it wasn't specified for any of the stats.

The last two stats, “strength” and “agility”, were tied to attack speed, evasion and the chance of dealing a critical hit. ''Strength'' gave +1 to damage in close combat. Thanks to the pitchfork's modest +1-5, my damage was now at 19-23.

''Show the skills menu,'' I said, after I dealt with the basics.

“Skills, abilities and special characteristics” were written on the section’s title, under which were three equal columns. My gaze immediately went to the center:

Abilities.

Opening and analyzing abilities requires a physical action.

At the bottom, it said:

Ability points: 1.

I wasn’t sure if I’d understood correctly. In order for any skill to appear in the menu, you first had to try it out once. There was so little information. However, the third column seemed easier to understand.

Special stats.

Reach level 10 to see special stats.

So, I had to level up first.

Oh well, on to the most completed column.

Skills.

I could see that the previous owner of my present body even managed to learn something by himself.

''The Way of Force''. Level 1. Passive skill. Every tenth unit of strength increases vitality.

Skill level up is available. Cost: 1 skill point.

''The Way of Strength''. Level 2. Passive skill. Every ninth unit of strength increases vitality.

There were no usable skill points (I guess there wouldn't be any at level 5). I wouldn’t use them anyway. I had to study the rest first.

''Strength of the Weapon''. Level 1. Passive skill. Increases the chances of primary weapon withstanding the enemy's attack by 10%.

So one could break their weapon. That was odd. I guess I should always keep a spare one in my inventory. And yes, this skill could also be leveled. It'd increase my chance to 15%.

''Power Strike''. Level 1. Active skill. Cost: 3energy points. Recharge time: 5 seconds. Do an additional 20 points of damage when attacking with the main weapon.

I would have +35 points of damage after leveling it. Not bad.

Some sort of a looped GIF started playing in my head after reading all of this.

I saw Bon gripping the pitchfork's hilt with both hands. He stepped forward on his right foot, hitting upwards with his weapon and piercing through the stomach of a sword wielding, faceless enemy that was standing in front of him.

I realized that I could repeat this skill even though I’d just seen it for the first time.

The villager's last skill turned out to be slaying. After reading the skill's description, a new GIF played in my mind.

Bon was spinning a trident over his head before he swung down and stabbed the prone enemy in the head.

Cost: 0 energy points. Recharge time: - 0 seconds. Can't be improved. Looking at the GIF, I remembered the riders that had attacked the field. Those guys must have been slaying using their horses’ hooves. So, I suppose it'll be possible to study similar techniques later on. If that's case, I won't have to rely on the trident anymore.

Speaking of which, “the trident (pitchfork or the war fork)” was listed as my primary weapon. I had always played as a swordsman. I’d never liked characters with wooden weapons.

The main weapon had two unknown skills: “A Crescent Hit”, which damaged all the enemies in front of you when you held the weapon in your right hand and hit as hard as you can, and “The Stunning Hit”, which caused additional damage when you hit the enemy's head. GIFs of the skills played in my head and I realized that I wouldn't be able to perform them in the same way the villager had. I could perform the action itself, but it wouldn't have the same effect. I had to study them first.

The last three unexplored skills were radically different from the previous ones. Looking at them, I started to wonder how a simple villager like Bon, with his focus on strength, had developed intelligence and mana.

''Dark Side of the World''. Level 1. Passive skill. Reduces the effect of any debuff, except those caused by the power of the Gods. 10% chance to block such debuffs. Attention! The effect is reduced by 10% before unlocking the skill.

''Eyes in the Dark''. Level 1. Passive skill. Allows you to see in the dark just as well as during the day. Allows you to see something hidden in the dark. Attention! The skill’s effect is reduced by 10% before unlocking the skill.

Tranquility of Darkness. Active Skill. Mana cost: 15. Cooldown is 3 seconds. 15% Chance that the minion of Darkness will discover its Tranquility, and will refuse to keep fighting you and your team. After experiencing the Tranquility, the ones loyal to the Darkness will get a 40% chance to accelerate the regeneration of all their status bars by the forces of Darkness. In case you use the spell on someone who is not an adherent of Darkness, incapable of understanding its Tranquility, there’s a 15% of chance of triggering the “Horror” effect on them.

In order to use the only active magical ability, I was supposed to stretch out my right hand with my fingers splayed out and, feeling the flow of the energy within my body moving to my fingers, release it into the target. All of this, as before, I’d figured out by looking at the GIFs. This one showed purple arrows forming into countless snake-like streams.

However, I found it strange that a guy like Bon had such cool elemental spells. I remembered the words that I’d heard before I got into the villager's body. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I'd wager that he hadn't had any intelligence or magic before my arrival. That would explain why no points had been spent on upgrading intelligence.

The fact that the two passive spells of darkness, although locked, still worked, backed up my theory. It was something like an inborn predisposition. But was it really inborn? What was the difference? One of them had saved me by blocking the effect of ''Decay'' after the ''Little Spider's'' last attack. I’d gotten lucky, since the skill had only 1% chance to trigger! That meant that it wouldn't activate next time. I had to learn “Dark Side of the World” as soon as possible. Bonus protection from debuffs would come in handy.

On the other hand, I don’t know how common these debuffs are. What if they are rare and I am only wasting skill points?

But who was I kidding? This dark voice and its words had touched some hidden chords in my soul. They’d touched something forgotten, but so dear. The darkness… I haven’t been afraid of it for the longest time. Night made me feel much better than day did. I liked the idea of being a Dark mage more than I liked the idea of fighting with a pitchfork. Although… I felt safer with it.

I made a mental note about further upgrades. I went back to the character menu and put the only available point into intelligence.

The first level of ''Tranquility of Darkness'' should now be active. I’m sure I'll unlock the other levels in the future. Even if I were to use it on one target I would have to activate it several times in order to increase my chances. I would need mana to do so.

A rustle and a muffled squeak made me instantly close all of the interfaces and get ready for the next bit of trouble. Luckily, nothing happened. The “Little Spider” finally came to its senses and, without paying any attention to me, staggered back home, sluggishly moving its legs. I checked its HP. It had recovered 2 HP.

Interesting, had it already been 10 minutes?

I swung the pitchfork at the web. It cracked into pieces like a porcelain plate and released its hold. I stretched my legs, looked around and saw the rising pillar of smoke. Suddenly I realized that Bon's village was on fire. Strange. I don't know the territory and the GIF only showed me the field. How did I know this village, then?

Synchronization with the body: 10%.

Villager Bon wishes to know if there are any survivors.

Attention! Quest available: ''Search for survivors.''

Quest giver: Villager Bon.

Quest objective: Return to Bon's village and take a look around. What if someone besides me survived the attack?

Award: EXP, maybe even more.

Villager Bon accepts the quest.