“Now we move to our last stop on our little tour.” We kept going.

On our way Jay mentioned things we all probably did know already. There were no classes in the classic sense, but professions more than made up for it. You could learn from a master, guilds and some institutions or academies. It usually cost money und if you don’t use professions regularly, the same was true for skills, you would lose slowly some of the proficiency. I never heard of the last point.

The more complicated part was the character level.

The level itself was just a relative measurement of the players’ skills, profession proficiency and partly attributes. It held no instantly comparable, absolute value. A higher level wasn’t automatically stronger.

A combat oriented player could often easily deal with a Priest or Healer 10 or 20 levels higher while said Priest or Healer would give every Black Magician a headache. The Black Magician on the other hand would most likely turn every tank to dust within seconds.

It sounded less than easy. But it was just a reminder from Jay. We wouldn’t know the level of opponents most of the time anyway. Blind rushers would even die faster in Karma than in other games.

There was another advice Jay emphasized. Don’t break the law if you might get caught. Better, never break the law. Depending on the region and continent punishment could be draconic. If you die by execution the same penalties as in a regular death would apply, losing of minimum one level and you could not login again for 12 hours. It could be worse depending on the crime.

That sounded harsh, but maybe there would be less player killers around.

We reached the city gates and were ready to see the world. That was my feeling when walking out of town.

“Here we are. This is the last station of your tour.” Jay made a sweeping gesture.

“Fighting is naturally on of Karmas central points, too. Open your inventory guys, just in case you weren’t aware by now that such convenient thing exist here as well. Don’t be surprised. There isn’t much space in the beginning. It grows with you. So work hard! It will take some time, but there are special items or standard bags available for all the loot hunters out there.” Jay was grinning from ear to ear, watching our inventory handling.

There was no real disappointment in me when I opened it. I had never seen a rich beginner. There were also body slots for clothes and accessories visible, only filled with trouser, shoes and a shirt. There was a lot of room for improvement.

“The slots in your inventory show you an optimized position. Sounds weird? Well, you can wear stuff like you want to. But the efficiency will drop tremendously. A necklace around your wrist may still show some effect, a ring on a cord around your neck or shoes on your hands will have no effect whatsoever.”

Besides the slots for clothes and other wearable things I had 9 panels for items. In the first was a rusty dagger, 10 coppers in the next and in the third were four sandwiches. My possessions couldn’t cause envy.

“Now take your weapons in your hand. The fun will soon begin!” Jay signaled the guards who ushered some peasants inside and closed the gates. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Why are they closing the gates? What’s the reason for this?”, asked someone with a frightened high pitched voice. Oho, someone else besides me was asking a question this time. It was a shy woman in her mid twenties.

“No, that’s just the regular procedure, direction of the city council. Stuff like that…” After her dismissive gesture Jay fetched some kind of flute out of her pocket. She moved it to her lips but I didn’t hear a sound.

“The council had some issues with the tour ending for new travelers. The old geezers felt I was a bit rough.”

“Rough?” You could hear that question from all of us at the same time.

Jay’s eyes had that glint again and her smile showed even more teeth, what I thought impossible.

“Pain and death let some players freeze up. I like the jump-into-cold-water-method best! You feel that you can endure, even though it’s far from convenient. Hardcore masochists may love it.”

This explanation confirmed my hunch and was bad news. Maybe I just should break Jay’s neck, for good measurement, hypothetically spoken….

“Oh, here they come.” A smaller dust cloud was now visible behind Jay. Someone or something was coming.

“Upsy-daisy, I almost forgot something to explain. Hold tight on your weapons. It is easy enough to lose them. The higher the level gap the more nasty monsters look. Good luck and have fun!” Jay stepped back a few meters and crossed her in arms in front of her chest.

I groaned and felt terrible. Cold sweat was flooding down my spine. Was that even possible? Ok, shaking worked pretty well.

The others were all yelling or mumbling “friendly” words in Jay’s direction who just stood there and was still smiling.

“Shit!”

“Bitch!”

“I don’t want to die!”

“Why do I have to fight?”

The cloud was almost here. Different animals were visible. I could see hares, foxes, some wolfs, dears, dozens of birds and tons of other critters. Everything was far from cute. That looked more like Disney on a really bad LSD trip. That did mean obviously: much higher level.

I was clutching my dagger in insane hope of an easier way out. That was really bad looking and no one would go to survive. That should be that last lesson? Sucks!

But now I had a very clever idea. It wasn’t very creative. I would hide behind Jay and hoped to be overlooked. Great plan!

I was running, jumping behind Jay and getting into a crouching position. Jay was laughing her ass off.

“You are so funny, hahaha. Nothing is going to happen to me. Even behind me you’ll receive aggro and get shredded. Please let the drama take place in front of me, so I can better see?!”

“Freaking sadist!” I was so angry. It wasn’t really hate. I could understand her logic, from a rational point of view. I still couldn’t get a grip and was scared for two. Now I was doing what everyone in my situation would have done as well: I screwed up even more in a panic reaction!

I tightly embraced Jay and tried to get a grip. I was grabbing a lot, breast flesh! Even hours later I wasn’t sure why I have done that. Instinct?

For a split second it felt just unbelievable good and I wasn’t too scarred either. It was supple, soft and yet firm.

And than my fingers broke with a noisy crack. It hurt but was bearable, maybe like a sprain.

The next thing I heard was: “You little prick!” After Jay bent my fingers less than subtle in the wrong direction, she grabbed my wrists and pulled so hard that I was flying just over her head and landed in front of her. Both arms were dislocated, what hurt less than my fingers.

“Ouch!” I tried to tell her that it hurt.

Now she was doing something my jumbled mind couldn’t really grasp.

“There is special lesson for little perverts!” She was still holding my wrists. Now she put on foot on my back and was tearing at my arms. That not only hurt but also caused some serious pain. I was screaming at this point.

It seemed there was no concept of shock in Karma or there was room for more pain. But Jay really did a number on me and had ripped off both arms. I was a standing blood fountain! I wanted to faint.

There were warnings all over me stating rapid blood loss and loss of limps. If I had to compare the pain it was like permanent drilling on a nerve at the dentist, without anesthetization. That was 25% pain level? Crap!

Everything felt quite unreal. Maybe I could have logged off. I wasn’t thinking straight in this moment. The realism caused me to think that my life would end. I was groaning now unconsciously.

Jay still seemed to have a grudge. She was grabbing my clothes was throwing me like some dwarf toss champ through the air, only much further. Target: aggressive critters!

I was playing cannon ball and flew right into the center. On my landing my hard head hit a fox in a perfect angle and I knocked it out. I couldn’t register the following system message:

You are the first player to slay an opponent at least 10 levels above you. You will receive a new attribute: Fame.

You receive Fame: 10 points

The little monsters wasted no time to get me. Wasn’t there some predator-prey concept in Karma? Dears ate grass, didn’t they? Fuck!

A good thing the pain wasn’t as awful as what Jay caused me. Or the blood loss numbed me already. I was somehow glad when the torture was over, all the blinking stopped and I felt nothing anymore.