One hour after I started to swing my pick for the first time I sweat like a pig. I drained my water bag steadily. Christa moved around inspecting the tunnel walls. There wasn’t too much rubble building up behind me. The wall seemed made of granite. I still had the feeling to get better just a little. Without visible changes in stats or a system message it was just a subjective feeling.

“Short break.” That was more than welcome. My arms reached a jelly like state.

“It could be worse…” Christa was checking the rubble.

“I’ve never guessed that it would that exhausting.” I was leaning on my pick.

“Right, it is. Especially beginners have a hard time to cope with the exertion. But strength and stamina will rise dramatically with higher proficiency. That’s why Novice Miners only work 4 hours a shift at max.”

“Is that the reason why I don’t see any travelers working with you?”

“Haha. Maybe. Some guys were just asking me for quests and others if they could help me somehow. I sent the first to the adventurer’s guild and offered the others work. They seemed put off by my offer. The wage of only 50 copper for the week and no instant promotion to Novice Miner was not enough of an incentive.” She grinned and looked at my pile of dirt closer.

“So… 50 coppers…” That really was nothing.

“Did I forget to tell you? I know it’s nothing, but you’ll receive 5 % of your finds on top and the experience for the miner skill will stack. If you pass the probation and work hard you shouldn’t be just a Level 1 Miner.”

“Ok, now I don’t feel cheated anymore.” I had no more complaints.

“Anyway, take a closer look at the rubble. See any differences?” I knelt down and grabbed a few stones.

“The color may be a bit different and the weight differs.”

“That’s right. Also the appearance, inclusions and cracks in stones tell a lot.”

She picked a bigger stone, with red streaks and put it to the side. Christa added two more with a similar color and a smaller black on.

“That should be iron. The smaller, black stone is silver ore, always a nice find.” She put the stones in her bag.

“Where will we put the rest of the rubble? I haven’t seen any outside the cave.”

“The Silver Mountains house an interesting monster. It’s every miners dream. The Rock Mole is blind and digs through the earth. But it’s easier for that monster to just run through caves or our tunnels. It eats rock and cleans out the rubble for us over time.”

“What? Really, such convenient monster exists?”

“It takes some time for Rock Moles to claim a new territory. But it’s mostly peaceful if you stay out of its direct way. If you encounter one, just walk away and mine in another tunnel. In case it is aggressive, don’t fight it and ran away. Your pick wouldn’t even leave a scratch. They not only eat rock, but are hard as one.”

“Good to know.” I was yawning now. The exhaustion from just one hours work was quite severe.

“Bored already?” Christa was looking at me.

“Not at all, just tired. I’m not used to this work, yet.” She seemed mollified.

“Take this.” She was throwing me a small yellow potion.

“What is this?”

“A recharge for you. That should be plenty for another hour of your manly excavating.” I didn’t feel offended and just downed the bottle.

Ding

Your stamina has recovered.

***

Christa kept running around in the tunnels and came to pick me up after the hour was up. Two more rocks with iron ore were within my new pile. We headed back to the camp. On our way we encountered three bigger birds that looked like a smaller version of Jess and Less.

They spread out a bit and fluffed their plumage. I held my pick in both hands, ready for hopefully everything.

“Kumas. They are kin to Minker birds, but are lot less agile and strong. You should be able to hold your own against them.” Christa was relaxed.

“Means what?” Was she expecting me to fight alone?

“Go for it. They can be our late dinner.” She was.

I wanted to say goodbye to being a coward. Here was a chance to improve.

The pick wouldn’t be lost like the dagger. I started with a careful approach, because I didn’t know how intelligent they were. There teamwork was another important factor.

With a sudden lunge I tried to shorten the distance to the bird in the center. All three spread their wings, a typical move to intimidate an opponent. I was hoping for something like that. With the next step I was in range.

Woosh!

I aimed for the head and was only able to graze the Kuma. It was still enough to stun the bird and I crouched down, used the momentum of my swing and landed a spinning heal kick that knocked the bird over and seemed to cause a good amount of damage. The monster was out cold.

While I tried to get away I still took some damage from the beaks of the other Kumas. My health bar looked all right so far. The birds tried to circle me and I used these seconds to stomp with a jump on the neck of their fallen comrade. A nasty cracking sound announced its demise.

With one opponent in front and another at my back my defense was almost non-existent. I tried to push them. With a short forward movement the bird behind me should feel compelled to attack. But I did no push forward further but turned around instead.

My next swing with my pick was aimed at the body. Bull’s-eye! I gut lucky and my pick killed the next Kuma almost instantly.

But now I had a problem. My pick was kind of stuck.

“Fuckety fuck! Fuuuck!” Did I hear Christa snicker?

The last bird was running at full speed and rammed me down. The Kuma now tried to trample me to death and my health dropped fast with every hit. I rolled from left to right, grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it at the bird’s head. My luck held and I hit. That was my sign to get on my feed again and push against the body of the Kuma from below. The disoriented bird was down and I followed up with a knee to its head.

I laid down on my back and was gasping for air.

Ding

You have obtained the skill Melee.

“Entertaining. You’ve done well.” Christa was slowly clapping her hands.

“Give me a minute to recover.” This two-minute fight drained me completely.

“Hmh, looks like one of the Kumas isn’t very usable anymore with the pick in its intestines. We’ll see.” She removed the pick and placed it beside me.

“It looks like you learned more than one lesson today. You need to get better, fast. What you also should do in the not too distant future is to carry different types of weapons. At last it’s up to you how to cover the disadvantages of each type.”

“Let’s go. Or do you need more rest? You look much better now.”

“I’m good. Am ready for some roasted birdy and a good nights sleep.” I got up and stashed the bloodied pick in my inventory.

“That’s the spirit!”

I was glad that the last part of the way was uneventful and used it to look at the new skill.

Melee Lvl 1 (Novice)

You will use every means necessary in close-quarters fighting to win. Melee raises the chance for a critical hit and improves spatial awareness in a fight.

Strength and Dexterity are slightly raised by Melee.

When we arrived at the camp Christa showed me how to gut the birds. I really liked to eat poultry, but the gory scene was new to me. There were no blood splatters at the display fridge of my mall.

I was not that squeamish and enjoyed a roasted leg. It was juicy and tasted a bit like beef. After the late dinner I went to my assigned tent and climbed into the hammock.

***

Back in reality I felt a muscle ache built up in my arms. Now I was convinced that you could work your muscles while playing. Awesome!

It was just a quarter past 5 now, but my body seemed to have problems to adapt. I should keep an eye on it, to not get sleepy the same time in real life as in game.

A TV dinner was ready in minutes. It tasted bland compared to the stuff in Karma. Maybe I should try some real cooking for a change. I zapped the TV stations and was instantly bored. Adds, flashy news and ridiculous shows were enough for me to switch off fast.

At least the Net showed some interesting news now.

Karma Forum

Guest 35924: ‘v seen a crazy scene at my town.

Guest 12795: What? You, not falling on your face?

Guest 24087: Maybe he has seen his mother?! :D

Guest 35924. Funny. No, there was a guy, a player, in the pillory!

Guest 24087: Really? In public?

Guest 12795: Woah! Prove?

Guest 35924: Made a screenshot. He was on display for sexual harassment of a young barmaid. He got one hand broken with a hammer as well.

Guest 24087: …

Guest 12795: Guess he earned it. Sounds tough still…

There were also some player lists online to compare skills and professions. Big gaming sites like GON also made a dedicated player ranking. How they got the information was above me. Maybe the outgoing players sent their info directly to these web sites.

A few guys were almost level 10 already. I was still level 1. Whatever, my satisfaction with Karma was not dependent on some figures.

Still mentally tired I thought about sleeping a bit. It made not much sense to log in now anyway.

“Moogle! Set alarm: 10.30 pm.”

“Alarm set.”

Before I fell to sleep I chuckled. I spent more time in bed than ever and was more active than ever at the same time.