Jack disappeared from his white room in a flash of light. Meanwhile, in the town of Bellan, the people were going about their business when a strange portal appeared in the sky. The kids pointed their fingers at the portal and shouted, their eyes shining with wonder, while most of the grownups just gave it a cursory glance before continuing with their tasks.

However, a group of people showed even more enthusiasm than the kids. They were the merchants and craftsmen. They knew a big spender was alighting and would remain in their town for a while. Other clever people also took notice, with a few of them rushing towards the direction of the portal.

“A chosen one from the monastery is arriving!”

A beam of light descended from the portal. After blinking a couple times to recover his sight, Jack found himself surrounded by a bunch of people. They looked at him with hungry eyes and some where even fighting to get closer.

What the hell is going on? he wondered.

“Oh, chosen one from the monastery! Heed my plea! A group of nasty goblins keeps raiding my farm! You got to help me! I will offer ten coppers for your service! Please, help this man keep his livelihood!”

A window popped up in front of Jack.

Quest: Help farmer Bob deal with his goblin problems. Reward: 10 coppers.

“Mr. Chosen, you’ve to help me! My daughter is ill! Without a Nightshade herb from Mirkwood she will die! Only someone courageous like yourself would be able to save her! Help this mother save her child. As a reward I’ll give you twenty coppers and my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

Quest: Help Ann save her daughter. Collect a Nightshade at Mirkwood and bring it back to her.

Reward: 20 coppers and her daughter’s hand in marriage.

“No, hero! You got to help me…”

Dozens of people began shouting their requests and window after window began to pop-up before Jack’s view. It came to a point he couldn’t see anything anymore. He felt like he was one of those old, virus filled PCs.

“Wait, people, hear me out! I’m new here and don’t…”

“Chosen, you’ve got to help us…”

“Mr. chosen, please save my mommy! She…”

Jack tried to explain himself and get everyone to calm down, but the people surrounding him were in a frenzy. The constant pop-up sound was giving him a headache and the semi-transparent quest windows overlapping each other made him feel dizzy.

He looked towards the floor to rein in the nausea and began shoving people aside to get out of the encirclement. After struggling a bunch, he finally made it out. He kept his head low and just ran away aimlessly.

“Refuse quest. Refuse quest. Refuse quest.”

The quest windows began to close as he issued the refuse quest command. After a while, they were all gone. He didn’t even need to refuse the last ones, as they disappeared on their own. It seemed that other factors were at play when dealing with the quest system.

Back at the main square where Jack had first appeared, the frenetic group of people finally calmed down. They all looked dispirited and many of them clicked their tongs in annoyance. No longer did they look like villagers in dire need of help, but like people that suddenly lost a great deal on a valuable product. Some of them were indignant towards the rest of the group and soon a proper row started.

At the other side of the square, a sturdy blacksmith was watching the commotion and talking with his neighbour, the owner of the general shop.

“What got into them this time? Why didn’t they follow the order and rules set in the town board for a new arrival?”

“It was indeed strange. Maybe it’s because we weren’t blessed with a new arrival in quite a while.”

“Could be. They might have lost their opportunity, but to us profit is almost guaranteed! I sure hope he’s a warrior!” exclaimed the blacksmith in earnest.

“To me it makes no difference, everyone needs a general shop!” laughed the other jovially.

In an alley somewhere in Bellan, Jack took a deep breath to calm himself down.

What the hell was that? Was that because of my unusual aura? If that’s the case, it’s going to be hell from now on… First, let’s see how things turned out.

“Status.”

| Name: Jack | Race: Human | Profession: — | Path: Path of Good | Nature: — | Title: — |

HP [50] – MP [50] – Stamina [50] – LVL [1] – EXP [0%] – Lives [10] – Reputation [0]

Basic Attributes:

[STR] 5 [DEX] 5 [INT] 5 [FAITH] 5 [VIT] 5 [AGI] 5 [WIS] 5 [LUCK] 40

Resistances:

[Fire] 0 [Water] 0 [Wind] 0 [Earth] 0 [Poison] 0 [Arcane] 0 [Darkness] 0 [Holy] 0 [Ice] 0 [Lightning] 0

Skills:

[Beginner’s Luck] [Unusual Aura]

Masteries:

None

Achievements:

None

Ten lives? What’s that about? I don’t get to save and load or have infinite respawns? That’s kind of scary. Everything else seems normal.

He closed the status window with a thought and looked around. A murky puddle in the ground hazily reflected the clouds in the sky. The stone wall he was resting his back on felt rough, but sturdy. People’s conversations were drifting here and there from the streets. A dog, his head tilted sideways, watched him with interest. There was a sense of solidity – of reality – from everything around him. Jack looked up and left the breath he was holding escape his chest.

Incredible…

That was his only thought for a while. His mind blanked out in an almost meditative fashion before his thought process began anew, like nothing happened.

I guess I need to look around and get familiar with this town. The amount of time you spend on the starting areas varies a lot from game to game, but there are always chests and good things to find when you comb the place from top to bottom. I just hope the townsfolk won’t swarm me again.

Contrary to his expectations, nobody gave him a second glance as he strode across the streets. It seems whatever it was that fascinated people when he’d first arrived was gone. The only one that showed interest in him was the dog from the alley who was now following him around at a certain distance.

“Whew. I guess the aura is not that absurd at least.”

Bellan was your typical medieval fantasy town, though it sure felt different when you were actually walking through it instead of seeing it on a monitor. There were also other things that a normal game simply couldn’t convey, like smells. Though Jack wasn’t sure how happy he was about that one.

As he walked about, Jack made sure to try and remember important locations or objects, like shops, professions guilds, monuments and so on. One of those that drew his attention was a large notice board. On it were pinned many parchments and pieces of paper, all with different requests, news and announcements. After skimming through it with his eyes, Jack couldn’t help but curse out loud.

“What the hell?”