Ding!

System Message

Quest Accepted!

Yes my first quest! I yell in my head, pumping my fist and almost shouting out load in excitement. I turned around and was about to rush off and go get the pelts when Jason calls out from behind me,

"It's great that that you're excited, but do you know how to harvest the pelts without damaging them?" He asks.

I stop in my tracks and turn around a little sheepishly. I let my excitement get the better of me and was a bit embarrassed. I walk back to the counter and ask, "Could please teach me how to harvest the pelts correctly?"

Jason stays silent for a moment, trying to look like he's thinking about it though he has a slight smile on his face. "Well since you asked so nicely I suppose I could." Jason said. He then proceeds to explain to Ren how to harvest various materials from animals with damaging them

Ding!

System Message

You have learned a new skill!

Harvesting - Life Skill

(Beginner lvl 1 - 0%)

You have learned how to not only how skin animals and beasts for their pelts,

but how to completely disassemble them for all of their materials.

As this skill advances in level you will be able to harvest higher quality ingredients

and fail less often

After thanking Jason for the skill, Ren dashes out of the village to a nearby field filled with low-level monsters for the new players to fight. Ren approaches the field and takes out his sword and examines it.

Novice sword

Type Blade QualityNormal

Damage 1-5 Durability 30/30

A weak sword for a beginner player

*sigh*

It well it could definitely be worse. I should make sure to get a better weapon as soon as I can. Ren looks around and spots a rabbit hopping about. "Info"

Status Window

Name Rabbit Level 1

Health 100/100

Attack 5[/b] Defence [/b]0

A Normal Rabbit

"This should be simple enough" Ren said. He charged forward and swung his sword at the Rabbit,

Delivered 18 damage

"Yes!" Ren shouts when the sword connects "looks like I got a bonus from running." Ren swings the sword again but this time the rabbit didn't sit still and charged at Ren, doging his sword in the process.

Received 5 damage

"Gah" Ren shouted as the rabbit bit his arm. While the pain is dialed down by the system it still stung. "Stupid rabbit" Ren started wildly swinging his sword at the rabbit again.

Delivered 22 damage

Delivered 20 damage

Delivered 22 damage

Delivered 18 damage

Ding!

System Message

You Have Successfully killed a Rabbit!

You have gain 10xp!

Ding!

System Message

You have created a new skill!

Flurry Strike - Active

(Beginner lvl 1 - 0%)

By not caring about defense you attack the enemy with flurry of strikes

in an attempt to beat them down with sheer ferocity. Higher levels decrease

the defense penalty and increase speed and damage.

-cost: 50 stamina

-Increase attack speed by 10%

-Increase damage by 10%

-decrease defense by 50%

"Oh a new skill. Hmmm, the defense penalty is pretty high, though if I level it up the penalty will decrease and the bonuses will get better" Ren sat on the grass next to the Rabbit he just killed and said a quick prayer for the Rabbit before disassembling him. He may be in a game but he still believes that you should show respect to something you killed.

System Message

You successfully disassemble a Rabbit!

You receive Rabbit Pelt(normal) x1 and Rabbit Meat(normal) x1

"One down and nine more to go, though I wouldn't mind having extras." with that Ren got up and went to find more Rabbits. Ren spent the rest of the day hunting Rabbits, killing 30 of them though he only got 18 pelts and 22 meat because he failed several times while harvesting them. During his hunt Ren gained one level, elevating him to level 2. Every time a player levels up they get 10 stat points to distribute however they want. Ren didn’t use his just yet, he wanted to think about what he would use them for first.

Ren made his way back to the village to spend the night as more powerful monsters come out during that time. Ren was thinking about what kind of character he want to be. He already knows he wants to become a craftsmen but he has no idea what he should put his stat points into. As he makes his my towards the center of the village, the setting sun painting the sky orange and red. He passes the blacksmith’s shop, the sound of metal being hammered into shape still coming from within, Ren is struck with a bolt of inspiration.

Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner? While I know I’ll need strength, what more important is precision!

With that thought Ren immediately opens his stats and puts 3 points into Strength and 7 into Dexterity. As he increases his strength he feels himself grow slightly stronger. Ren continues to make his way to the center of the village to find a place to spend the night. Not wanting to spend any of the money he has on an inn Ren opts to sleep beneath the stars.

_________________________________________________________________________________

*Next Day*

Ren wakes up as the sun just starts to peak over the horizon and light up the village. He spent the night under one of the trees in the village center. Standing up and stretching, Ren makes his way to the field he was at the day before. Today his goal is to hunt foxes. Ren spends several hours scouring the field outside the village for foxes. Though he finds plenty, the foxes are quick and run away when they get low on health. Ren chases after them and gets closer to the forest a short distance away from the village. He eventually reaches the edge of the forest but doesn't enter. While he doesn’t have any evidence to support it, Ren's certain that the monster in there are much stronger than him. Ren stands outside for a few minutes working up the courage to enter. They monsters may be stronger but Ren’s determined to finish the quest. Taking a deep breath Ren steps into the forest and starts walking deeper, searching for the damaged foxes.

The sun is directly overhead as Ren sits down on a fallen log to rest and eat a piece of bread, thanks to all of the fighting yesterday and all of the walking today, he's down to only 3 pieces of bread. After spending a little more than an hour in the forest he only managed to obtain two fox pelts and some meat and got lost in the process.

While the sun won't set for several hours I probably only have a few hours until it starts getting dark in the forest. I need to find a place to stay the night before it starts getting too dangerous.

Ren stands up and starts moving in a direction he hopes leads to the village, not knowing that he's actually heading opposite direction and moving deeper into the forest.

The hours pass and Ren is desperate. The forest has started getting dark and he can hear an increasing number of monsters moving around in the forest. Ren has been wandering around for a while with no luck finding the village or a safe place to hole up for the night and was starting to give up, thinking that he'll be attacked and killed soon by whatever beast gets to him first. Just when he starts thinking about going and finding a monster to speed up the process, Ren stumbles into a small clearing and finds a small, old, rundown looking hut in the middle. Ren sprints to the hut and tries the door, to his relief it's unlocked. He opens the door and steps inside, finding the hut empty of anything but a few broken shelves, a large cabinet, some scattered pieces of wood, and a small stone stove. Ren closes the door and slides the wooden bar across it, locking the door against anything that might want entry.

I’m safe for now.

He leans against the wall next to the door and slides down, binging his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them when he reach the floor.

What should I do now? I don't want to die but I don't know how to get back to the village.

As Ren is pondering his dilemma he hears the sound of rain hitting the roof, first slowly and gently but quickly picking up speed and intensity. Soon it's a full downpour. Lightning flashes and thunder roars, sometime with the power to shake the small hut. Amidst all of this commotion, Ren finally succumbs to the exhaustion caused by the day’s events and falls into a fitful sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Next Day*

Ren's sleep was far from restful. He was woken up constantly by the howls of beasts and the roar thunder and he was still tired when he got up but he couldn't get back to sleep anymore. It was still raining relatively hard and, all though the thunder and lightning had abated, he was still trapped inside the hut for now as the rainclouds blocked out the sun and caused the forest to become pretty dark gloomy. He briefly thought about logging off and waiting for the rain to stop but ultimately decided against it. He only had four more days, including today, by himself and wanted to make the most of it. The hut had become cold as Ren slept, and he was thankful that there were no leaks, and he started shivering. He got up and gathered the broken shelves and scattered pieces of wood and dropped them on the floor by the stove. Crouching down, Ren was about to try making a fire when he realized he didn't have anything to start it with. Starting to get depressed again, he suddenly remembered one place he hadn't looked yet.

"The cabinet!" Ren shouts and rushes over to the cabinet and throws open the doors. The dim light in the hut makes it hard to see inside and the cabinet is deep enough that Ren has to crawl halfway into it to be able to search for anything. He feels around the cabinet and finds nothing but dust on the top and middle shelves. Ren moves to search the floor of the cabinet and almost his entire upper body disappears into the structure. The wood of the cabinet floor creaks as he shifts his weight around on his hands. Ren take his weight off one hand to feel around and...

*CRACK*

The floor gives way under his weight and he falls

Ren looks down and, in the dim light that filtered down from above, he see what looks like a solid black mass raising to meet him from the shadows and then...

Ren Taylor died...

Or that's what Ren though would happen

Received 100 damage

It took a moment for Ren to realize what had happened

I didn't die? Ren thought, staring up at his only source of light tens of feet above him. Falling that far head first, I definitely should have died.

Ding!

System Message

You have created a new skill!

Fall Damage Reduction - Passive

(Beginner lvl 1 - 0%)

You have learned through experience that to increase the odds of surviving a fall

You have to keep your body relaxed, allowing it to absorb some of the damage

-Fall damage reduced by 5%

-chance of injury from falling reduced by 5%

So that's the reason

Ren slowly stands up, dusts himself off, and looks around. There was an old wooden ladder set against one side of the shaft leading back up the hut and a dark passageway leading off into the distance.

It'll probably collapse and trap me down here. Ren thinks, looking at the ladder.

Ren gathers up the broken pieces of wood that fell with him and starts his climb back up to the surface. Surprisingly the ladder held, and Ren was able to make it back up to the hut without incident. Climbing out the cabinet, Ren finds that it’s still dark and raining hasn’t let up even a little. He immediately walks over to the stove and gets to work on building a fire by rubbing two stick together. He saw how to do it on TV once and tried to remember what he needed to do. First he carefully used his sword to split some of the wood into smaller pieces, almost cutting off a few fingers in the process. Next Ren takes another piece and shapes it into a crude rod shape with a rounded tip. Finally he uses his sword tip to drill a small depression into a flat piece of wood. Ren cuts the sleeves off of his tunic to use as fuel and starts spinning the rod in between his hands as fast as he could while pushing it into the flat piece of wood.

One minute...

Five minutes…

Ten minutes...

Ren feels like his hands are rubbed raw and his arms felling like they could fall off at any moment but Ren kept at it, not wanting to stay inside the cold hut any longer than nessesary.

Ding!

System Message

By pushing your limits your Endurance increased by 1

Ren ignored the message and continued until finally he saw smoke and then flames. He did it! But Ren can't celebrate yet, he has to keep the fire from going out first. Ren feeds the small fire his ripped up sleeves first than the large wood shavings to build it up before carefully transferring to the stove. After tending to the fire as if he was taking care of a small child for several minutes it finally started burning the larger pieces of wood and Ren let out a sigh of relief and fell on his back, laughing with relief as the small hut started to warm up little by little.

I did! I actually did it! I created a fire!

Ding!

System Message

You have created a new skill!

Primitive Fire Creation - Life Skill

(Beginner lvl 1 - 0%)

Cost: 5 Stamina/minute

You can start fire by rubbing two sticks together!

While not useful under most circumstances

If you need to use it could save your life

-Primitive fire making becomes easier and

more likely to succeed

Ren smiles at this, though he hoped he'd never have to use it, knows he’ll probably have to again. He has enough wood to keep it going for a little while but he would need to break apart the cabinet soon if he wanted the fire to last for more than an hour or two. He reached into his bag to pull out some of his remaining bread when he remembers the rabbit and fox meat he has and pulls that out instead. Ren used to help his family cook meals so he’s reasonably confident in his cooking skills, though he had no idea if this would work. He placed some of the meat on top of the stone stove proceed to try and cook it. After failing a few times Ren got the hang of it and cooked up the rest of the meat. He took a piece, bit into it, and almost spitting it out.

"Damn that nasty!" Ren said as he struggled to finish the whole piece. It was dry and tasked wood smoke stone, and dirt. While tasty it was not, it was still food and it helped him recover some health.

Ding!

System Message

You have created a new skill!

Survival Cooking - Life Skill

(Beginner lvl 1 - 0%)

You know the importance of food when trying to survive and

Developed cooking methods to suit your needs

cooked on a hot stone and seasoned with dirt, the food

you cook with this method might not taste the best but it will

keep you alive for a while

-You can use the resources around you to

cook food when necessary, though it probably

won't taste the good and might have

odd effects

"They even have a skill like this? Seriously?" Ren says to the empty hut.

Ren finishes up another piece of the truly dreadful cooked meat before getting up and walking over to the cabinet. He looks at it for a moment before winding up and giving it a solid kick. The wood cracks but doesn't break so Ren continues to kick it until it does. After few minutes of kicking the cabinet is reduced to a pile of broken wood. Ren sits down painting and waits for his stamina to regenerate. When he got his stamina back, Ren piles the wood near the stove and adds some to keep the fire going. He than takes a few pieces and puts them in his bag. He takes another and wraps it with some cloth soaked in the fat from the meat he cooked and lights it, making a crude torch. Ren then makes his way to the hole in the floor were the cabinet used to be and climbs down the ladder to the hidden passage. Reaching the bottom he looks around. It was a rough passage, dug by hand, a little taller than he was and about a foot wider, making it easy to walk though. Fallowing the passage took some time, he had to change torches twice, but he finally saw the end. Exiting the passage, he entered a small underground room that had a few sparsely populated bookshelves along one wall, an old half rotten wooden bench and a pile of collapsed stone with an extremely rusty anvil sitting in front of it along another wall and a second ladder leading up directly opposite the passage.

"This place must have been someone's workshop a long time ago." Ren muttered to himself as he walks around the underground chamber.

Ren checks the bookshelves but only finds a few books that are too faded and decayed to be of any use. He then makes his way over to the wall opposite the passage and carefully climbs the ladder to the floor above. After climbing maybe fifty or sixty feet, his hand hit something solid. Thinking it might be like the cabinet in the hut Ren tries to first push than slide whatever was above him. After some struggling with the thing above him, and nearly losing his grip on the ladder a few times, Ren finally manages to move the object above him to find that he indeed was indeed inside another cabinet. Opening the cabinet door and climbing out Ren found himself in yet another hut, though this one was in better condition. It had stopped rain while he was in the tunnel and the sun now shone brightly though the window. He left the hut to see where he was and, to his surprise, saw that he was currently standing at the edge of the forest and could see the village off in the distance. Seeing as he still had a few hours left until nightfall, Ren decided to continue to hunt foxes for his quest.

The sun was setting on Ren's third day in the game. He had finally gathered all of the pelts he needed and planned on turning them in to Jason the next day.