The entrance to the hole was slightly below my height, but the vaults of the cave reached about two meters.

“I wonder who lives in here?” I thought to myself.

I took another couple of steps inside, and the game sent a fresh message:

You are the first Newcomer to discover the location of the Ant Hill of the Fire Termites. Within 24 hours of your passage through this location you will receive the following bonuses:

+100% success rate in random chance;

+ 50% increase in your agility.

“So, it looks like my new friend showed me not just a cave but a whole Quest. Let's hope that this location is designed for Newcomers, preferably for one Newcomer on his own, otherwise I will quickly lose my sense of curiosity ...”

As I was still deep in thought, I did not immediately notice that after the latest message had arrived, it became a bit lighter in the cave. Even though it was still impossible to make out the walls, I did get the impression that my eyes were growing accustomed to the darkness. The cave walls were partially covered with a brown-gray moss, and a weak glow emanated a couple of centimeters from the walls. The creators of the game seemed to have thought out every little detail, and every minute I spent in this world I increasingly perceived it as reality. It was fun but a little scary: if I feel like this in the first few days, what will happen in three years?

My reflections were interrupted by a dark shape moving very quickly in my direction. I had no experience in using a sword in combat, so as soon as a nearly meter tall red-black ant popped out in front of me ... I lost control. To be honest, I totally panicked. My body refused to move, and my brain froze completely, but I had to thank my instincts! I wanted to survive, and my instinct for self-preservation over ruled my brain, so I tried to emulate the techniques that I had seen in kung fu movies as best as I could. Swinging my sword as best I could, I killed the insect in the last of my seven lives. In the last seconds of the fight, the pain was simply unbearable; I finished the fight on pure willpower.

“If simple wounds can be so painful, what will happen next? I must find a way to ignore the pain. It is better not to get injured at all, but I don’t think I will get to that level any time soon ...” I decided, grimacing from pain.

You have discovered the “Sword Master” skill. Beginner level (1).

Having squatted down on the site of the recent battle, I ate a couple of yellow fruits without wasting precious time. My Life points rose to almost maximum level - 121 out of a possible 140 points.

“If the weakest ant in this anthill almost killed me single handed, how am I going to get through this? On top of that there are only 11 yellow fruits left. Perhaps I should retreat and return later, when I'm stronger? It is a pity, really, to miss out on the bonuses, but after all, if I die, I can’t be resurrected!” The analyst inside me demanded that I return later.

But the gamer inside of me shouted: “The more dangerous the location, the bigger the prize! At the end of the day, I had no choice! I would still have to fight sometime, if not here, then somewhere else.”

Needless to say that the gamer won, as always. I love taking risks and experimenting.

When I got back on my feet, ready for new quests, another message was displayed:

Your patron appreciates your decision, and is pleased with your choice and courage. The Trickster’s ratio improved: +350 points. At the moment Good: 0. To attain Respect: 5,000.

“Hi!”The Trickster appeared beside me. “You are a rather interesting person,” the patron smiled. “I'm really pleased that you chose me.”

I was truly surprised by his sudden appearance, as I did not expect that my patron would be a real person, I just thought it was someone who would give me bonuses.

Apparently, my surprise could be clearly read on my face, because the Trickster grinned:

“What, did you think that I was just sat around somewhere doing nothing and occasionally give you quests to undertake?”

“Something along those lines,” I smiled back cautiously. I still did not understand what to expect from this character.

“No, I myself would not leave my world just to do that. I also love taking risks, adventures and battles, and I love things that are new and unique,” The Trickster tossed coins between his fingers as he had done when I had chosen him in the cave. He did it automatically, without even noticing.

“If that’s the case,” I decided to ask, “then why did you decide to talk to me here and now?”

My patron smiled.

“Before now I did not know who you were and what you were capable of. Also, the fact that you brought me into the world and cheered me up a little did not mean that we would get along together. Now, after watching you for a couple of days, I'm sure that if you get some training, then we can achieve much here together ...” The Trickster had a dreamy look, and, as if following the mood of their master, the movement of the coins became smoother.

While my patron was given over to dreams, I neatly moved my position to make life easier for me, so it was more convenient to watch the hole: I did not want to be caught suddenly unawares.

Noticing my maneuvers, the Trickster was amused:

“Do not be so afraid! We've got at least twenty minutes. I used some of my talents, so they won’t dare to come here for some time.”

The Trickster tossed two coins into the air, and as soon as they touched the ground they increased in size and turned into two dark colored stools. The Trickster, sat down on one of them, and with a gesture, he invited me to sit on the other one, saying: “Please sit down.”

The expression on the patron's face became serious, and his behavior changed dramatically as soon as the coins disappeared from his hands. Before me now was a clever, discerning companion, restrained in both words and actions.

“My achievements in this world depend on you,” the Trickster began. “Obviously, in the future there will be other Newcomers who will choose me, but for the coming year it's just you. This year is very important, as it gives me a head start over those who were not chosen this time around. I have plenty of competition, and some of them have been selected by more than one Newcomer. Naturally, the stronger and more powerful I am, the more opportunities and influence you will have.” “So, my dear Marten, I'm vitally interested in your development. However, unfortunately, my powers are limited by the contract that I have agreed with this world, and so far I haven’t been able to be of much assistance. Unfortunately, my skills in conventional weapons are modest and a bit of a joke. However, I'll teach you everything I know.” The Trickster rose and took a step towards me, placing his hands on my forehead, and said: “Close your eyes, Marten, and open your mind to me.”

I relaxed and closed my eyes. At first there was darkness, and then I saw the Trickster in a kaleidoscope of color. He moved very slowly from one combat posture to another, and struck with an invisible sword. As soon as it seemed to me that I had remembered everything, the kaleidoscope disappeared, and I felt that the patron had removed his hands from my forehead.

I opened my eyes. There were messages for me:

You have studied “Slashing strikes” (cost: 10 mana. The impact upon you is applied instantly). Your weapon deals out +15% damage, has a chance to inflict a bleeding wound, 0.2-0.5% injury every second, for 3 seconds.

You have studied the “Penetrating strike” (cost: 25 mana. The impact is applied instantly). Your weapon deals +20% injury, with a 5% chance of damage to internal organs, additional injury depends on the importance of the organ.

You have learned the “Evasive movement” agility. If you see an attack and you know which part of the body it is aimed at, you have a 10% chance of evasion.

You have learned the fighting style of “Sword Master”. Your movements have acquired logic. Studying the agility of your opponents, you can gradually improve your style, copying and adapting their agility.

“That's all I can teach you about sword fighting.”

“Thank you so much!” I thanked the Trickster sincerely. “It's much more than I knew before, so now, I think I stand a better chance in this cave.”

“Of course you do!” The Trickster smiled and began to disappear into the air. “I think your chances are slim, so good luck to you!”

As soon as the patron and the stools had disappeared, another ant flew at me from the darkness. I did not panic, but I was not completely confident that the first victory was not a pure accident. I did not have the required fighting skills yet: and even the skills that I had already acquired did not provide an absolute guarantee. It is one thing to have knowledge, but another thing to be able to apply it. Blocking one attack, I tried to sever one of the termite’s legs with my sword, but an unpleasant sensation passed over my hand, and I was afraid that I would lose hold of my sword. However as a result of this maneuver, I injured one of the termite’s legs, and its attacks began to slow down. It shook every time it accidentally stepped on the injured limb. That's the technique that I wanted to use again in future battles with the termites.

Still, the uncertainty of whether I could return from the dead without a chance of resurrection, coupled with the pain of my wounds, made me more cautious and constantly held me back. This time I led the fight more deliberately, and I anticipated the attacks from the termite’s legs, some of which I cut with the sword, and others I managed to avoid. A couple of times I even managed to evade being bitten. As a result, I twice used “Slashing strikes” in my fight, and my “Sword Master” skill increased by 2 points (3). I still had 49 life points remaining. So far so good, but there was still room for improvement.

I decided not to try the “Penetrating strike” just yet, unless it became absolutely necessary: I had too little mana left. Four “Slashing strikes”, in my opinion, were more effective than one “Penetrating strike” and two “Slashing strikes”. Although the opportunity to damage its internal organs was very tempting, the chance of success was too low. The bottom line was that I needed to see how effective the techniques were in open combat, or it could be confusing how best to use my weapons. I pondered, all of this having finished off the next monster, and replenishing my health with yellow fruits.

I carefully negotiated the cave: the passage was uneven, with a sharp turn about every 10-20 steps. The tension was palpable. The technique of chopping off the termites’ legs proved to be a great success: I only had to eat another fruit after the sixth battle. Gradually, I studied the basic combat techniques of the termites and my “Evasive movement” agility showed itself in all its glory: here and there my body naturally shifted to one side, and I avoided attack.

During the second battle it seemed to me that the termite that attacked me was somewhat different from the first one, and the battles that followed confirmed this: every termite in this place was unique. The color of their chitin was different, and the way that their mandibles and legs behaved was unique. The last termite I fought proved to be an experienced fighter: it even increased my “Sword Master” agility up to 7 points, and my “Agility” increased by 3 points, but that wasn’t enough to help me. Surprisingly, it was only then that I got my reward.

My first reward in this part of the game turned out to be a piece of a plate of dark brown chitin, and the description said that it was the chitin of a Fire termite, but all the rest of the information was unavailable to me. The plate of chitin was quite elastic and looked strong. Rummaging in my bag, I found a couple of pieces of liana creeper: I had put the bits left over in my bag without thinking. I wrapped the plate on my left hand, leaving a five-centimeter gap to the wrist, and secured the whole thing with several knots. It did not look much, but the system still appreciated my efforts:

You have created an “Unsightly chitinous shield”: armor 10 points and a 5% chance to block a blow with the protected part of the arm.

Your “Craftsman” agility has increased: +1 (3).

You have improved your “Identification of objects” agility: +1 (2).

Brilliant! Now, as I had hoped, I could use my left hand to block attacks. This, of course, was not a proper shield, and I didn’t really have a deft left hand, but in any case it was better than nothing. I still needed to develop the capabilities of my left hand, so it would better to start sooner rather than later. After allowing myself a breather for a couple of minutes, I continued through the anthill.

It seemed that what worked in the forest worked here too: the further I went, the stronger the opponents became and the more I was afraid to die in the game, but I persevered. My intuition and curiosity cooperated and drove me forward.

Had my opponents changed? No, they were still termites. Only now they were small and shooting from the ceiling, very much like a cross between a termite and a dung beetle. They died immediately they were hit, only it was difficult to get at them: the shooting termites were constantly on the move, even when they fired a shot.

I also came across strange red-blue termites. They stood behind their comrades and healed them with a touch. So, I had to block attacks with my left hand and constantly dodge attacks, until I could kill the healers. Only after that could I kill the termite warriors.

Finishing pretty much the last of my yellow fruit, I summed up my current status:

Reflexes: + 6 (9). This ability began to grow in leaps and bounds when I began to kill the first termite-healers. I constantly had to dodge the shooters and strikes of the warriors, but I only managed to block 30 percent of the strikes.

Sword master: + 4 (11).

Agility: +2 (13).

Strength gained: + 1 (10).

Also due to the fact that the Moon Flower constantly used my mana, and I had started using it myself, my “Intellect” increased +1 (6).

New messages jumped out at me:

Your “Stamina” agility has increased: +1 (15), and moved to a new level, a bonus for every 1 stamina point:

20 life points - 300 life points;

0.5% resistance to poisons: 7.5%;

0.1% avoiding organ damage: 1.5%.

All this was good news, but, as usual, among them was a bad one. I only had one yellow fruit left. Well, no one promised that it would be an easy ride.

Luckily, the caves were literally full of unusual flora. Although I suspected that if I had not had a high level of “Attentiveness” and my “Herbalist” ability, I would have found nothing and would have to fall back as soon as my provisions, with their healing abilities, ran out. Passing through the caves, I collected what I considered in my opinion, to be the most promising plants, although oddly enough, all of them were too complicated for my level of “Herbalist”. So, to find out what was edible, I adopted an old Neanderthal technique: basically, try everything. So that’s what I did.

There were only four kinds that I considered to be candidates for food. I started with a dirty orange colored oblong fruit resembling a carrot crossbred with a cactus. It looked the most promising of the bunch, and the fruit had an acidic-salty taste. Having eaten this fruit, which I was unable to find any information about, I did not feel that it had any effect upon me, so I discarded it. Perhaps this is a terribly useful fruit that is used in incredibly complex medicines, but for now it hadn’t helped me in any way.

Your “Intuition” agility has increased: +1% (8%).

“What? I'm guessing that it's used for healing, or is it just useless for me in this cave? Better not to throw it away then!”

One by one I tried the fruits; as a result I found two poisonous ones. The first - similar to a cowberry, but only dark green color, possessed a weak poison: it demolished 0.1% of a life point per second for 10 seconds. The second one - similar to a celery root, demolished 10% of my remaining life points, leaving me with 203 points.

However, the the last one, slightly reminiscent of a black colored passion fruit, was edible, and it gave me 10-40 life points at a time. Out of six fruits one gave 40 points, and the remaining five gave no more than 15 life points. When I ate the sixth fruit, I was given its name:

“Cave Haiku” is a type of edible moss. It grows exclusively in caves, and it can be used in cooking. Edible in its raw form, it provides a top up of 10-60 life points.

Your “Herbalist” agility has increased: +1% (69%).

“I won’t get very far at this rate if I eat nothing but haiku. I need to find something better ...”

While I still had room in my bag, I saved packs of edible plants thirty at a time.

My progress had slowed considerably, and I even had to go back in search of more haiku. I began to fight more cautiously, constantly luring the warriors out and fighting from a defensive position to avoid the arrows fired by the mutant shooters. I also worked out a whole strategy for chopping off their legs. Thanks to all this, I managed to reach the end of the cave, and that’s where I stumbled upon the Queen of the hive.

In front of me was a huge hall, lined with lilac-black stalactites, and amidst this magnificence stood the fiery-amber colored Queen of the termites. It was four meters high. It had six long legs as wide as my torso, and the two front ones ended with what looked like claws, which the termite Queen used as hands. It used the other four to move around.

“Wow! Apparently, this scenario was designed for more than one gamer!”

The monster did not notice me and was busy with its work. The Queen was busy burying an egg in the ground, which at first glance, looked to be as big as me. I sat down in the passageway and began to chew on the haiku, although I was already tired of this plant. Unlike the yellow fruit I did not particularly care for the taste, however since in this fight I was going to have to use everything that I had at my disposal, I needed to bring my life points to maximum level. I did not have any plan yet, as I watched the Queen dig up and bury a couple more eggs. Her movements were slow and confident, and she did not do anything unusual. I had no idea how many life points she had, and I didn’t know what to expect from her in terms of her attacking capabilities.

While I was eating, I was trying to think of a reason why I should not attack it, and I came up with several, but my curiosity in company with my intuition joined my desire for advancement and safely rejected them all. In fact, there were two more reasons to take a chance. The first was to prove to myself that I was not afraid, because if you prove to yourself that you are weak, then you will always be afraid. The second reason was my patron: I knew for certain that he was watching me. I was desperate to establish good relations with him and make him respect me.

“Alas, my termite Queen, you will die today. Either that, or when your children hatch out they may have something to breakfast upon, but that’s down to luck...” I grinned.

I don’t like to put things off, so I waited until the Queen turned her back on me, and, using the “Silent Step” and “Easy Step” agilities, I quickly went on the attack. First of all, I decided to slice off one of its legs: this had worked well on the termite warriors, which meant that it should work on her. Moreover, her weight was enormous, and this action should seriously damage her mobility.

Well, so far luck was on my side! I struck a “Critical” blow with my very first strike. I understood that this was down to luck, coupled with a blow from behind on a creature that wasn’t expecting to be attacked.

Your “Intuition” agility has increased: +1% (9%).

“Hell! Not now!” I waved the message away and continued to strike at the termite’s leg.

The Queen turned in my direction, but so far I had managed to stay out of her line of sight. So far, her strikes had all missed me, but then, finally, it happened: a thick leg fell to the floor, and the Queen screamed in pain. Her screams disorientated me for about four seconds. It seemed that the Queen had a particular technique of screaming, and that gave her enough time to turn and face me.

I blocked the first strike from one of her pincers with my hand, but I was thrown back a couple of meters. My hand went numb, and I knew that I had received a critical blow to my health; I only had 240 health points left. Overcoming the pain, I slipped between the blows and slid across the floor under the creature's belly. It was unlikely that I would last for long, so I decided to go all out, although this was not my first choice as a plan of action. Sliding under the Queen’s belly, I inflicted two “Penetrating strikes” in the hope that at least one of them would damage some important organ.

I was incredibly lucky! I do not know exactly what the “Penetrating Strike” damaged, and I was not even sure which of them did it. The Queen howled in pain, and I slipped out from under her. Her life points were shown by a green line on my display, and had reduced by somewhere around 15%. I was hoping for something more, but it was still a good result.

The pain and her slow reaction played a cruel joke on the Queen. She did not realize that I was behind her, and continued to look for me in front of her. This gave me time to move away from the action. After that, I quickly got up, and began to chop off another leg. Naturally, on the same side as the first, so that the queen collapsed even more to one side and, perhaps, lost her maneuverability altogether. After all, she had only one leg left on that side.

Still my immobilized hand prevented me from moving as I was used to, so it had taken me a further five minutes to dismember the Queen’s second leg. The advantage spun one way and then the other, but I stayed in control of the situation. I knew that if the Queen turned to face to me again, I would be a dead man. My highly developed “Agilities” and “Reflexes” were exactly what saved me. After I had cut off the termite Queen’s two of the three limbs on the one side, the end of the fight was just a matter of time.

At the last moment, right before her death, the Queen screamed some sort of command out loud. One of the eggs she had buried awakened, and a very strong warrior climbed out of it. I had 73 life points remaining. I had relaxed, thinking that victory was within reach, and didn’t expect such a turn of events. Having finished off the Queen with a final blow, I turned to face the warrior who was still peeling off the eggshell from its face.

Suddenly the warrior spat some green fluid in my direction. Just a millimeter separated my right wrist from the poison. I was saved by my “Reflexes” along with my “Evasive movement” agility. If the saliva had hit my wrist, then the fight would have ended in a matter of seconds.

I concentrated to the last, and using the last of my strength with the remnants of my mana, I conducted a “Slicing strike” on the monster’s left attacking leg. Luck was again on my side and I struck it with another “Critical blow”. The monster's leg almost fell away from its body and hung there immobile. However, the monster did not give up. It was much stronger than all the other termite warriors I had met in the cave. It could heal small wounds using its saliva, and managed to evade my attacks. It had different attacking techniques, so I had to dodge them, and not rely solely on my “Evasive movement” agility. I was on the edge of failure: I won the last attack between us only because I executed mine a fraction of a second earlier than it did.

I stood over the defeated super termite, and I was shaking. Then the body evaporated, and on the floor lay eight fire plates from its scales. Well, that was better than nothing, but to be honest, I was hoping for something more.

At the end of the cave was a passage, and my intuition pushed me in that direction. I begged my intuition to give me more time, and the first thing that I did was to destroy all the eggs buried in the ground. Then I ate my entire stock of haiku, raising my life points from 10 to 155. After that, without wasting a moment, I headed towards the last hall in the cave. I walked carefully. I had few life points to spare, and I did not want to risk doing anything stupid.

I had nothing to worry about: the last cave was safe. In addition, it looked phenomenal. The hall was similar in size to the one that I had defeated the Queen in and planted with dwarf trees, reminiscent of oak trees. On each oak there were lots of fruits, and all the fruits were different. Approaching the first tree, I began to look over the fruits. At one point I realized that each fruit corresponded to a termite that I had killed. Realizing this, I began to search for the Queen’s royal fruit.

It was no surprise that I eventually found it. I found the Queen’s fruit, and it hung from the biggest tree in the middle of the hall, and of course it was difficult to get at. On the same tree were the fruits that corresponded to her defenders, or at least that was my conclusion, since their number corresponded to the number of eggs I had destroyed plus one dead warrior. Realizing that I couldn’t take away the Queen’s fruit, I decided to take the fruit of one of the warriors. I thought that I would end up with an excellent pet to share my difficult journey.

My hand was ready to tear the fruit of my future pet, and then it felt that I had been struck by lightning: my intuition totally disagreed with my decision. The strangest thing was that the Moon Flower, which had not taken an active part in my adventures before now, grabbed my sleeve with its roots and wouldn’t allow me to touch the fruit.

I was furious: “I almost died here, and I deserve this pet as my reward!”

I stretched out my hand again and experienced even stronger resistance.

“Okay, you do not want me to have this fruit, so let's try another one ...” I reached for the next fruit, but still it pulled me back.

Then my curiosity was awakened: I began to reach out to every fruit in this tree, but the Moon Flower wasn’t happy with any of them. I tried to do this on a couple of other trees with the same result.

So I said to myself, “Okay, since you so stubbornly believe that I need a different reward then I must at least find it ...”

I began to go from tree to tree and look at the fruits. All were pretty much identical. Most of them I recognized and could even remember exactly how I fought them. With every passing minute I became more convinced that I really should not be looking to take a pet from here. Too simple. Of course, my passage through the cave had been tough, and I had been extremely lucky to be able to master those caves, but why would I take a pet born from a creature that I had killed? I had a choice. It didn’t appear to follow the style of the game’s creators, although the reward, of course, could be potentially excellent and arguably worth the risk. Basically that’s what I was looking for, except that the analyst in me shouted that something was hiding from me and this was something potentially much better than all these pets:

Your “Intuition” ability has increased: +1% (10%).

That was the confirmation that I needed, and right after the message, my gaze fell on an unpretentious looking tree in the hall. It was full of fruits relating to the very first termites that I had come across. There was a faded red glow emanating from the foliage on the right hand side of the tree, and it drew me towards it. Approaching the tree, I opened the leaves and saw a small red fruit. I plucked it without hesitation. As soon as I did that all the other trees in the hall melted into thin air.

“The Ruby Seed” is a unique legendary edible fruit.

You have obtained the achievement of “Legendary Fruit Seeker”. You have found one of the legendary fruits hidden in this world.

+2% chance of finding something legendary.

+2% chance of meeting a legendary creature.

You are the first Newcomer to receive “Legendary Seeker” status.

+2% chance to be awarded a legendary quest to undertake.

“Is that all I get? No, of course, there was a sense of achievement, especially because I was the first of the Newcomers to achieve such a feat. The bonuses were small but still useful, which I was pleased about, but why did I end up with an edible seed and not a pet? Could it even have been unique and legendary? I wasn’t happy with this deal. Why on earth did my Intuition and the Moon Flower want me to have it so badly?” “Okay, I understand that a flower is just a flower, and that it can relate to other plants. But what I didn’t understand was why my Intuition went off the scale! Okay, I definitely will not eat the fruit yet, but we'll see what happens. Maybe it will be really useful to me in the future, but at the moment I am clueless. True, the ground raisins were also just a fruit, until my new friend ate as much as it needed. Maybe this one is a necessary piece of my evolution, but even better, not just simple evolution, but something legendary and unique ...” I reassured myself.

Your “Intuition” ability has increased: +5% (15%).

“Got it!” Already feeling less frustrated, I headed for the exit.

Upon leaving the caves I remembered that during the fighting I had received lots of messages. Deciding to rest for a while, I sat down in the lotus pose on the ground and began to catch up on the backlog. Ignoring the small details, this is what I received:

Your “Agility” has increased: +1 (14).

Your “Strength” agility has increased: +1 (11).

Your “Sword Mastery” agility has increased: +1 (12).

Your “Accuracy” agility has increased: +1 (11).

Your “Reflexes” agility has increased: +1 (10).

Thanks to your “Sword Master” agility, you have learned a new way to apply the “Penetrating Strike” agility.

You have studied the “Crippling Strike” as a subcategory (cost: 50 mana, to the impact if it is applied when evading a strike). Your weapon deals +50% damage, and 10% chance of damage to internal organs. Additional damage depends on the importance of the organ.

“Excellent! I can learn new techniques if I use my imagination and think out of the box!” This discovery really cheered me up.

You have a new: “Inventiveness” agility: +1 (1).

Your “Intellect” agility has increased: +1 (7).

Your “Accuracy” agility has increased: +1 (12).

Your “Agilities” have increased: +1 (15). It has moved to a higher level, and you will now receive a bonus of 1 point for every agility that you have mastered.

0.5% evasion from conventional attacks - 7.5%;

0.2% of avoiding critical attacks - 3%;

+1% increase in speed - 15%.

You are the first Newcomer to negotiate the Hive of the Fire Termites. You have obtained “Pioneer” reputation. This achievement gives you the opportunity to learn (unavailable), and this achievement can be improved upon, but for that to happen you will have to be the first pioneer to negotiate a further 10 scenarios.

+10% chance of receiving an exceptional bonus if you are the first to negotiate a new scenario.

+5% bonus, if you are the first to negotiate the scenario.

If you manage to negotiate a scenario solo that has been designed for two or more gamers, then you will achieve the “Fearlessness” agility. This achievement gives you the opportunity to learn (unavailable), and this achievement can be improved upon. The condition is to go solo to 10 more scenarios that are designed for 2-4 players.

+10% bonus for the loss of life points when passing solo through a scenario designed for 2-4 players.

+5% increase in agilities when passing through a scenario solo that was designed for 2-4 players.

“Well then, at least my efforts have been appreciated!” The more messages I got, the happier I became.

The Trickster is pleasantly surprised that you managed to negotiate this scenario. The Trickster’s opinion of you has gone up: +150. At the moment it stands at Good: 150 points. To reach Respect you will need to achieve 4,850 points.

The second that I noticed the “Ruby Seed, my “Attentiveness” agility increased.

Your “Attentiveness” agility has increased: +1 (15), and moved to a new level. Bonus for each point of “Attentiveness”:

+5% - detection of things that are not easily seen - 75%;

+1% - detection of hidden items - 15%;

+0.1% - detection of items hidden by magic - 1.5%.

“I’m getting there!” I summed up.

Now I understood how the game’s creators had designed a way of self improvement for the gamers. First of all, you need to understand how to get the right ability, agility, talents and much more. After that, if you use them in the right way, then they will grow quite quickly to 15 points, or in the case of percentages, until it increases until you reach the next level. So what happens to a beginner when they reach a level of 15 points? The bonuses improve dramatically, but the growth slows down considerably. So the gamer has to concentrate on something specific, because the higher the agility reaches, then the greater the bonus will be for each level.

I was obviously missing something, because I was sure that the system before me was too simple. I had already been thinking about all of this on my to the cave’s exit. Finally, I found myself back under open skies. To be truthful, I was not used to being in caves. My friendly wild boar was nowhere to be found, but my internal body clock told me that it was already evening. Obviously, I could see that for myself, but this was an agility that I needed, so I planned to fully develop it. I had a suspicion that at a higher level it would display more than just time to me.

I decided that was enough adventure for one day. I found a suitable tree and made a basic bed as I had done before.