Shin awoke around midday to the sound of a breeze rattling the shutters on his window. The room was dimly lit, it’s only source of light being the rays of sun protruding through his window shutters. Everything around him seemed so normal to him, despite the massive change that had taken place. “I guess the world just keeps going” he thought dryly, contemplating the contrast of the normalcy of his surroundings and the absurdity of his situation, he was still unsure of what he should do but his boredom was starting to dull his thoughts. Struggling to engage his mind, he pushed his blanket off himself and sat on the bed, facing the window and wiping the sleep out of his eyes. Shin wasn’t looking forward to the day. He was likely to be getting fired, he was both a day late in returning to the western capital today and most importantly he was missing his cargo - Jakob having not returned.

Shin got up and dressed himself in plain cloth shorts, preferring not to wear his shirt again until he’d washed the sweat out of it. It was still damp from his long ride the night prior. He went downstairs and saw no sign of Tilla which was unusual around midday. Continuing out of the inn, he went around back to where the stables were. Jass, Wren and his new horse were all relaxing in the shade of a large enclosed pen. Shin wished he could repay the kindness that Tilla had granted him, she had clearly brushed and fed the horses herself as he had slept. He was sure that she must have been surprised by the appearance of a new horse, but she had clearly just taken it in stride.

He took his shirt, that had clearly seen better days, and washed it with water from a pump at the back of the house. “Ah ya finally awake, enjoying ya beauty sleep a bit ta much ey” came Tilla's voice from behind him with a hint of teasing. “Yeah, sorry about that. I had one hell of a night. Thanks so much for looking after me and the horses... I can’t pay you right now but I will definitely pay back your kindness on my next trip.” Shin responded humbly, turning to look at her. He was surprised, above her head was a floating banner reading [Tilla Southfoot (NPC)] in green. Unsure what to do with this new development, he maintained a straight face.

Tilla gave him a look of consideration, her features becoming peculiarly serious. “I actually need ya ‘elp, if ya want ta pay me back that is. Ya headed back to da capital today ait cha. My cousin lives there an’ I need to bring ‘er a package. If you do that let’s just call it square. There’s no way I can make change for a plat’ anyway” Tilla requested with slight bemusement at the flinch shin made when she mentioned the platinum coin she saw on his bed the night prior. Shin was taken aback at not only her mention of the platinum coin, that was currently stowed in his pocket, but more so at the text box that appeared before him obscuring his vision. Trying to suppress his reaction so as not to seem crazy, Shin tried to look like he was thinking and tilted his head down so he could read the message.

--

[Quest (Chain) part 1/? :

You owe “Tilla” for letting you stay at her establishment for an extra day. She has offered you a quest to write off the debt. “Tilla’s” cousin lives in the Autumn kingdom capital. You have been tasked with finding her and delivering a package.

Reward : You will be “Square” with the inn owner “Tilla”, all debts paid in full. Your affinity with “Tilla” will increase.

Failure : Your affinity with the inn owner “Tilla” will decline, “Tilla” will seek payment

{Accept?} {Decline?}]

--

The text bubble must have distracted him too much because when he’d finished reading it Tilla was looking at him apprehensively. Shin was unsure of what made a quest different from a favor but he didn’t see the harm in accepting. “Sure thing, I owe you at least that much and..you know....thanks for not taking it” he responded, humbled that Tilla left that much money just laying there. His acceptance caused a new bubble to appear, replacing the previous one [You have accepted “Tilla’s” quest]. As soon as he had given his confirmation it felt as though a veil of apathy and boredom was lifted off of him. He could now feel excitement at the prospect of earning so much money and an eager determination to get home.

Tilla beamed a happy smile and thanked him “ta, I ain’t a thief and don’ worry I won’ tell. Lookin’ at cha, ya worked ‘ard for it.” Tilla said, gesturing at his disheveled state, with a smile before turning and going back into the inn. Shin was relieved that Tilla both knew and didn’t care about the platinum and that he could pay her back for her help, but he was curious about what had just happened. “What are quest’s?” he thought, actively trying to activate his encyclopedic knowledge. Recalling that the boredom would stay away so long as he was doing a quest or killing monsters.

A new bubble, orange instead of blue, appeared where the previous one had been.

[ A Quest is a job/task given to a player, often resulting in a reward when completed successfully.]

He expected it this time and was excited that at least one of his new abilities was helpful, he would have to test the others on his way back to the capital. Still, he still couldn’t stand how the Gamer's mind skill was messing with his emotions. The feelings changed so abruptly that it didn’t feel natural and was more than a little discomforting. “Maybe it’s not so bad, if I can just keep doing little quests like this I should be fine” he thought, the concept comforting to him.

Shin wanted to get back to the capital before night which was easily achievable given the lack of weight in the cart and the extra horsepower. Shin packed his clothes and Jakob’s box on the back of the cart, then effixed the new horse, which he had named “Jordy”, to run alongside Jass and Wren. Tilla had gone to retrieve the package she wanted delivered. Given the time he had to wait around he decided to try one of the other skills he remembered, Navigation, but he had no clue how to get it to activate. He tried thinking about his destination, with no luck, then he tried calling out “navigation activate”, which also yielded no results. “How the hell do I use this?” he abjectly wandered, again trying to call on his encyclopedic knowledge. Nothing happened.

He couldn’t understand why his skills didn’t seem to be working and was beginning to worry that they all had stopped functioning. He tried a few things but only when he thought “how does navigation work?” did he finally get a response.

[ There are many ways to navigate. The sun or stars can be used to pinpoint the direction you are facing. To navigate you need to know your current…]

Shin was surprised at the length of the text, it had explained in depth how to navigate in general but seemingly didn’t disclose information on how his skill worked. Exasperated at his own stupidity, he tried “how do I use my navigation skill” which sparked another window to pop up, his vision was once again filled by blocks of text. He quickly used the trick Alice had taught him and focused on the “X” symbols in the top right of the blocks he didn’t need and closed them one by one before reading the description that had popped up.

[Navigation skill: The rare skill Navigation is activated when you think the trigger phrase “take me to…(insert destination) or “Display map”. It can be used to show a map of adjustable magnification, either in front of you in three dimensions (Active) or in two dimensions on the top right of your vision (passive). When guiding it can highlight your route as you travel.]

Interested in this new development shin calling out “Display map” no sooner than the words left his mouth did a large hologram appear in front of him, it was like a small version of everything around him. He could see everything, the rolling fields and elevated areas where hills were and the buildings around him, with the noted absence of tiny people. In his place was a glowing blue orb, he could see another orb in the tiny approximation of the inn. which he deduced was Tilla. “This is awesome” he thought as he inspected the maps inclines and declines, which represented where the earth was higher or lower. He tried touching it but his hand went right through it. While he was considering the uses of this, Tilla exited the inn, drawing his attention. She was carrying a rectangular box draped in cloth.

He had yet to learn how to close the projection and winced as Tilla waded through the holographic representation of the inn, much like the text boxes it remained in his vision despite him turning a full 180 degrees. Shin tried to keep a straight face as he accepted the box. “What’s the name of your cousin? I am new to delivering things but I promise to get this to them as soon as possible” Shin asked while packing the box safely in the back of his cart. “Ah, she’s “Mari”. Ya should be able ta find ‘er in the adventurer’s guild. You’ll know ‘er when ya see ‘er. She looks just like me.” came Tilla’s response. Shin gave a curt nod and thanked Tilla for all of her help before setting off. He was made more eager to leave due to the oddity of seeing a woman stand submerged in a mini representation of the world.

Shin mustered his courage and thought as loudly as he could “Take me to Autumn Kingdom’s adventurer guild”. As though it had been waiting for it, the road illuminated in a subtle blue light. The holographic map turned into a 2D map that rotated with his head, stored in the top right of his view. The road’s illumination was the first overtly obvious skill Shin had ever used. Worried that the light would catch attention he looked guiltily back at Tilla. She wasn’t reacting to the change at all. “Maybe this is also just in my eyes” he thought, giving Tilla an awkward goodbye wave.

He was so distracted playing with the mini-maps rotation that he lost track of time and was nearing the capital. Recalling that he had planned to try out some of the other skills he berated himself “Seriously, If there was a job that paid for doing nothing all day. I would live in a platinum house”. He drew his attention back to his skills. Feeling like he had gotten the grasp of the Navigation skill, he wanted to try out something else but couldn’t recall any other skills aside from his old ones and the three new ones he had already used (Gamer’s mentality, navigation and encyclopedic knowledge). “Damn it Shin, uncle would kill you if he knew you weren’t paying attention again. Think” his linguistic self flagellation continued.

After a while of thinking he came up with an idea. “What skills do I have” he thought. Again, attempting to access the encyclopedic knowledge skill. As though to mock him, he was met with no response. He tried rephrasing the question a few different ways to no avail. The only one that sparked a response was when he asked “how do I check my skills.”, The block of text was surprisingly small given how generic the question was.

[You can check your skills when you see your status. There are many ways to do this.]

He was disappointed in how limited the explanation was, but at least he now had a train of thought to follow.

“How can I check my status”

[checking your status can be done at the Church, Adventurers guild or Castle. Alternatively, It can be checked with a Skill, Item or Admin access.]

“How can I check my status at the Adventurers guild”

[All new adventurers are checked for their status, when signing up for the adventurer test. Sign up to be an adventurer.]

Shin didn’t like the thought of it, but he knew that eventually he would have to do it if he wanted to stave off the boredom by doing small quests. “May as well suck it up and do it now” he thought, a bit annoyed at the prospect that this was probably what Jakob wanted. Unable to recall the rest of his skills he decided to keep playing with his navigation skill, swinging his head left and right and watching the mini-maps orientation change. He got the occasional raised eyebrow from travelers as he approached the busy capital, but he was too enthralled to notice.