I quickly spun around, spear aimed out in front of me, ready to strike towards anything that came my way, but there was nothing. The clapping had sounded like it had been just a few dozen feet behind me, but the only thing there was a thick stand of firs. The trees were so densely packed, that there was no conceivable way for anyone to stand inside the cluster of nettles and branches, let alone have enough room to move around.

A soft yet powerful voice came from the firs. “Most impressive Outworlder. I must say that I am surprised to see one of your kind overcome such early obstacles.”

Even though I couldn’t make out who was talking in the stand of trees, the voice seemed familiar. While I hadn’t heard this particular voice, I had heard one that carried a similar tone of divinity and authority when I had spawned in. I lowered my spear, resting the end of the shaft against the ground next to me.

“I apologize for drawing my weapon towards you. I’m still a bit wired from the fight.” I said, doing my best to sound calm. “Would you please come out and show yourself, so I can see who I am speaking with?”

A feminine laugh rang out from the trees as the branches began to shift. Stepping out from a small opening was an elven looking creature, though their features led me to believe they were of another race entirely. She had elf-like ears that were much too long and thin, a main of hazel hair, and a set of short antlers that appeared to be made of a white wood instead of bone. Standing only five and a half feet tall, wearing a dress made of bark and leaves, she seemed rather delicate, until I looked at her eyes. They were pitch black opals filled with specs of starlight which gave off the sense of power and authority.

“There is no need for your apology Erik,” She said softly. “Believe it or not I am actually here to apologize to you.”

“Why? And I’m sorry, but who are you exactly? I think I understand enough to know that you're not a mortal.” I asked, utterly confused why a higher being would be approaching me.

A kind smile sprouted on the woman's face. “All in due time. Please follow me. I have prepared a place for us to talk out of the cold.” Without waiting for my response, she walked back into the stand of trees.

Not willing to ignore an invitation from a higher being, I followed her through the small opening, ducking my head as I walked past the wall of bark and nettles. I was surprised to step into a small domed room with walls made of braided vines and tree branches. In the middle of the space sat a thick tree stump, with two chairs that were grown and formed from living branches. The chamber was lit by a bioluminescent moss that hung from the ceiling. As I approached the table, the opening behind me closed itself, branches weaving themselves together to make one solid wall all throughout the room. The creature motioned for me to take a seat opposite of theirs, which I found to be surprisingly comfortable and warm.

The woman produced two clay mugs and a kettle seemingly out of thin air. As she began to talk, she started to fill the mugs with a steaming liquid.

“I have to admit that I am impressed that you could identify me as a higher being. While this world hasn’t seen too many of your kind yet, from my own experience, not all Outworlds tend to be as observant as yourself.” She placed one of the mugs in front of me. Drawing the mug to my lips, I took a sip of the fragrant tea. The liquid seemed to permeate through my entire body as another notification sprung up in the long list that had accumulated during and after my fight.

“To start with your questions, I am Liebhel, Goddess of the Land. My domain covers all the wilderness that resides on Hazelsong. In particular, I have jurisdiction over this planet’s wild flora and fauna that live on or below the earth. My position is one of authority that grants me a seat at the table of the Pantheon, the ruling council of deities. I am here to offer you our sincerest apologies for what has transpired today and to answer any questions you have. You may think of me as your impromptu counselor.” She said, taking time to drink from her own mug as she finished.

My head started to spin. Based on my limited understanding, the ‘Gods’ of Hazelsong were actually the storyteller AI’s that were crafting the world's NPCs and storylines. “I’m confused. What do you and the Pantheon have to apologize for?” I asked.

Liebhel placed her mug back onto the stump in front of her as she folded her hands into her lap. “You see, as the gods of this world, we have untold power that can mold and shape the very fabric of this reality, but based on past… transgressions… by previous Pantheon members, we operate under a strict code of conduct in regards to the mortal realm. While we are powerful and the guardians of this world, there are others even above us that influence the world of Hazelsong. We call these higher beings Astrals. These ‘Astral Beings’ that hold power over us will, from time to time, come to change the world and how it operates. It is our job, as the planet's deities, to ensure those changes happen in a smooth and seamless manner that is not jarring for this world's inhabitants.”

Looking up at the ceiling with a mildly annoyed expression, she continued her explanation. “The Astral Beings, in their wisdom, demanded that all Outworlds be granted the ability to arrive in any racial vessel they desired regardless of any region or city’s laws or histories. Our solution around this was to make a decree to the priests and priestesses of the world that we, the Pantheon, desire that all governments should suspend any race based hostilities and smaller towns and cities should prepare to assist new Outworlders. A decree by the Pantheon to the mortals of this world is rare, as the core code of the Pantheon strongly dissuades us from doing so. Ignoring or acting against our mandates would be… disastrous for the mortals involved and examples have been made in the past against those who would purposefully act against an official decree from the Pantheon. But mortals still have free will and we only ask that they follow the letter of our decrees, not necessarily their spirit.”

“So you're here to take responsibility for me not arriving in Jadestone and being barred from the town,” I stated.

Liebhel nodded. “While we can make demands of the mortals, we cannot alter what a mortal thinks or believes. When we ordered governments to pause racial hostilities, that didn’t stop leaders who carried deep seeded hatred towards specific races from passing laws that went against the spirit of our mandate. We did our best to follow the directive of the Astral Beings, while also working within the limitations we place on ourselves as deities. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to help you in this instance.”

“I mean, I’m not holding a grudge against anyone. Honestly, this seems like something that people back in my world would pull, skirting around the rules to satisfy their own biases. So if you came just to apologize, there really isn’t any need to. One of the big reasons I was sent here was to help these ‘Astral Beings’ discover these types of errors on their part so that they don’t happen again.” I stated.

“Yes, we understand the purpose of you young Outworlders, and we are most grateful for the work you do. But I am afraid that I am not here to simply offer our apologies and advice, but to also give you a warning,” she said as her demeanor grew serious.

“We decided to wait and see if you would leave and go back to your world after you were denied access to your counselor. It would have spared us this meeting, but we respect your determination to try and move forward under the circumstances. As you know, Outworlders are unique in that when you die, you are brought back to life. What you do not know is that the first location where your soul and body can be reunited upon your death is at an altar or temple of one of our world's deities. When your kind originally arrives in Hazelsong, you appear outside of one of these religious buildings, and your soul is immediately bound to the location. Since you were unable to arrive in a town with an altar or temple, your soul was left unbound.”

“So… What happens to me if I die?” I asked. I had assumed that if I was killed that I would be sent back to the clearing that I had spawned in.

“According to Ankou, the God of the Dead, your soul would go through the same process as any other mortal soul from this realm. You would spend a time in the city of the dead, waiting to be judged. Based on your recent arrival to our world, you would likely be sent to purgatory. A timeless, senseless, void.”

“Can’t you just bind my soul? I mean, you're a god, isn’t this kind of thing in your wheelhouse?” I asked. While permanent death wasn’t a literal danger to me, I would prefer to avoid being in a situation where I would be forced to start over with a brand new character after my first player death.

“Unfortunately, no,” Liebhel stated. “There are ways for Outworlders to temporarily or permanently bind their souls to new areas themselves, but you're not yet experienced enough to even obtain the knowledge required to do such a thing. Either I or a priest could bind your soul to a location, but we would only be able to do so at a consecrated altar, and the only one available is in Jadestone. You could have your soul bond in another town, but I am blocked from having you teleported to a new region by the parameters put in place by the Astral Beings. You could also attempt to walk to a new village with an altar, but if you died along the way, I would not be able to aid you.”

“So you think I should remain in the valley and try to gain access to Jadestone?” I asked, unsure of what I should do. I had planned on staying in the valley, but if my character only had one life, it might be better to just heed Vondal’s warning and leave through the pass. Worst case scenario, I end up having to roll a new character or wait for the rest of the party to follow after me when they log in.

“I am afraid I cannot weigh in on this decision,” Liebhel said with a shake of her head. “Outside of extreme circumstances, the Pantheon does not attempt to directly influence the decision making of mortals, Outworlder or not. All I can do is allow you to ask questions you may have, and offer you some knowledge in return to help you along your chosen path.”

I sat for a moment, thinking about my situation. If I was essentially playing with one life, for the time being, I needed more knowledge in how I could develop my character beyond killing for experience. Thinking about what I could do to better prepare myself to survive, I remembered the special attack skills that I missed by failing my tutorial quest.

“When I was going to meet with my counselor, I was supposed to receive two separate attack skills. Honestly, I don’t know how to learn special attacks outside of receiving them as a quest reward.” I said.

She seemed a bit confused for a moment before a look of understanding came across her face. “I am guessing you have not reviewed the outcome of your battle yet. That is my fault, I did not give you much time to rest before revealing myself. Please, take a moment to look over the results of your fight.” She stated as she picked her tea up to take another drink.

Taking her up on her advice, I started to review the notifications that had clogged the side of my vision since the end of the battle.

You have killed ‘Juvenile Boar’ LVL 2. You receive 55 XP*.

*You received a 10% XP bonus for killing a creature 1 level higher than yourself.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the special attack ‘Braced Spear’

Special Attack - Braced Spear, Common LVL 1

Fighting Style Requirements: 2 Handed Weapon Fighting or Polearm Fighting

Weapon Requirements: Equipped polearm weapon

Stamina Cost: Maximum Weapon Damage x2

Cooldown: None

Attack Description: Brace your spear against the ground to intercept the charge of a creature. Attack inflicts maximum weapon damage. Attack automatically critically hits. Stamina is spent keeping the spear braced. If stamina is depleted, the spear will lose ‘braced’ condition and the attacking creature will take minimum or no damage. For every level in this attack, reduce the amount of charge damage you receive during a successful braced attack by 1.5%.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the special attack ‘Powerful Kick’

Special Attack - Powerful Kick, Common LVL 1

Fighting Style Requirements: Brawling or Martial Arts

Weapon Requirements: None

Stamina Cost: 20 SP

Cooldown: None

Attack Description: Deliver a powerful kick to an enemy. Deliver 5-8 bludgeoning damage to the creature. Chance to knock creatures prone. Chance to inflict Stun debuff on creatures. For every level in this attack, improve the chance to knock a creature prone by 1% and improve the chance to inflict and improve the Stun debuff by 1%.

You have killed ‘Juvenile Boar’ LVL 2. You receive 55 XP*.

*You received a 10% XP bonus for killing a creature 1 level higher than yourself.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

At level 2, you may select a basic skill to become trained in. You have 10 stat points you may distribute. You may not distribute more than 5 points into any stat.

You have killed ‘Juvenile Boar’ LVL 2. You receive 50 XP.

You have drunk Jillipper Tea. You receive the following benefits for 8 hours.

+20% multiplier on any Survival/Nature Skill checks. Increased resistance to cold/freezing temperatures.

Holy crap! I had leveled up and I never even realized it. More importantly, I learned two special attacks during my fight. Thinking back, I remembered the battle prompts saying that I had attacked with Braced Spear and Powerful Kick, but during the battle, I hadn’t thought much about it. I figured that they were just flavor text to help differentiate the attacks for each other.

Clearing my vision of information windows, I saw Liebhel staring at me with a soft smile on her face. “I forget how you Outworlders lack the ability to naturally absorb such information. Congratulations on your first level of advancement.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I had no idea that special attacks could be learned just by fighting in battles. I thought they would be like spells where I would need to gain access to them through leveling up or study.”

“I understand,” replied Liebhel. “There will be special attacks that you will need to learn through training and research, or gain via quest rewards and level ups, but these are mostly higher rarity attacks. Most common and some uncommon attacks can be learned by successfully completing the attack's motions in combat or mock battles. But this is not a sure thing. For example, if you had not applied the minimum amount of strength into your kick, you would not have learned the Powerful Kick attack. This is where training is useful. Instructors can teach you how to perform certain attacks and have you practice the movements, giving you the necessary information to unlock them in combat.”

“I assume that a special attacks level cap is also based on the level of training you have in the required fighting styles?” I asked.

Nodding her head, Liebhel said, “It's very similar to how your advanced skills work. Your special attack skill's level cap will be based on the highest level of training you have in any of the required fighting styles and you only need to be trained in one in order to unlock an attack skill, as you can see. With advanced skills that require you to be trained in multiple skill trees, their level cap will be based on the lowest training you have. Learning advanced skills also works very much in the same way as learning attack skills, as you learned when you unlocked your advanced mobility skill earlier today. If you know of an advanced skill in a skill tree that you are trained in, you can try to perform the actions of that skill in an attempt to unlock it. Or if a skill is too difficult to simply pick up on your own, gaining the skill through a quest or a level up will grant you the necessary knowledge to perform the skill.”

It was a relief to learn that if I knew how a particular attack skill was performed, that I could unlock its corresponding skill, which would make the particular attack more powerful than if I simply performed the motions of the attack itself. While that was exciting, I was surprised to hear that if I gained a skill through a quest or a level up, I would just simply ‘gain’ the necessary knowledge on how to perform the skill. I gained two attack skills and three advanced skills since I logged in, and two of the advanced skills were gained when I created my character. None of the skills I gained seemed to impart me with any natural skill or information. Even my advanced skill in Orc knowledge didn’t give me any additional information, it just unlocked a section of the wiki that was previously locked to me.

“I’m a bit confused,” I said. “I’ve learned several skills today and none of them have given me any natural knowledge to perform the skills outside of letting me know that I could perform them. You make it sound like I should be naturally learning how a particular skill functions once I unlock it.”

Liebhel started to laugh as she rose from her seat. “I understand that it can be a bit confusing. I suppose a better way to put it is that some skills, when learned, can unlock a certain natural intuition that had been previously locked behind your mind, or they may give you a specific feeling to help guide you along the correct path.” As she spoke, the wall of woven vegetation began to pull apart, and the opening to the outside reappeared where it had previously been. “Come with me, I believe it is time for a demonstration.”