CHAPTER 1

A bright light surrounds me and when the light vanishes I see myself in a courtyard of sorts with people all around me moving around .moving my arms and legs I see that it’s the same as real life so I walk out of the courtyard and begin to tour the city.

After walking around through different parts of the city from a place that sold only weapons to another that specialized in selling magic potions both of which I was to broke to purchase I feel a tug on my shirtsleeve turning I see an old woman was the one who stopped me.

“How may I help you?” I ask hoping that she will give me a quest like saving her daughter from bandits or recovering her family’s lost treasure from a dragon. “My children are all grown up and have left me can you help me fetch some water from the well over there “she says as she offers me a wooden bucket.

Hiding my disappointment I smile at her “sure just wait here” I reply. Taking the bucket I walk to the well that has a small queue there and after some time I fetch the water and bring it back to her. “if it is not too much to ask can you bring the water to my house” she asks as I am about to leave.”No just lead the way” I reply.

After walking for ten minutes, dodging both npcs and players we get to her house a small house. Walking into the house I drop the bucket, looking around the house I can really see that the old woman needs help.

Steeling my mind I grab a broom lying around and begin to sweep the house “you don’t have to do that “the old woman says.”I know but I would like to do it“I reply as I continue my sweeping. After sweeping I look for a rag and dust the entire house, it takes hours but by the time I am finished with the cleaning the house is looking far better than before though it could still do with a paint job. Moving to the door so I can head back into the city I hear a voice “young man may I have your name” looking back to see the old woman I reply” Michael”.

”Michael” she says as she walks closer to where I stand at the door “it’s getting later why don’t you stay here for the night and continue your journey tomorrow .looking at the sky I see that she is right the sun is almost down and so far I didn’t want to touch the two silver coins every player is given at the start of the game.

Alone in the room I bring up my player status to check how my status looks like.

Player: Michael

Level: 1

Race: human

Title:

Mana: 200

Strength: 5

Speed: 5

Agility: 5

Stamina: 10

Luck: 5

Respect: 5

Buffs: none

Intelligence: 5

After looking at my stats for some time I check out the help option in the player menu. There is a small note about the money exchange rate in the game that npcs use.

Terra currency

1 gold coin= 100 silver coins

1silver coin = 100 bronze coins

1 bronze coin = 10 copper coins

Closing the menu I log out form the game and wake up in the real world on my bed. Seems like I will have to hunt monsters and do more quests in I want to have a chance with all the other players moving around the city” I say to myself as I fix a late dinner.

Three hours later when I logged back into the game the day was just beginning to brighten .sitting n the bed I look around the sparse room the old woman Elena had given me to use, she said it was her son’s room .walking to the kitchen I find the old woman sitting in one of the chairs with a box at her feet, “I guess you will be leaving now” she says to me. “Yes I will “I reply.

“Take this with you as you go “she tells me as she pushes the box to me .opening the box I see a plain sword wrapped in red silk, taking the sword I open the player menu and place the sword in my inventory. “Thank you“ I say turning to her. “Just remember to visit me whenever you are in the city.” she tells me as I walk out the door and head into the city. As soon as I leave the house a small window pops open.

Quest completed: fetch water for grandma

Rank: E

Rewards: Respect +1

Quest completed: gain Grandma Elena’s favor

Rank: C

Rewards: Respect +4, Shiva’s sword

Moving through the city I come across different quests from tending to a shop to walking a dog and babysitting a child. From what I have seen until you finish a quest you won’t know the rank of the quest or the possible rewards so a player has to take most requests from the npcs around as the reward maybe a rare item.

Moving to the city gates I see different players with placards looking for members for their guilds .paying no attention to them I continue on my way, pass the city gate and head off to the surrounding country side to look for monsters to fight with.

After thirty minutes I come across a wild boar grazing in the grassland not what I was expecting but I will have to do with what I am provided.

As soon as the boar noticed me it charged at me .rolling to my left I dodge the boar as it barrels past me ,before it can turn round and charge at me again I quickly form a circle with my right pinkie finger in front of me and my player menu opens up.

I equip Shiva’s sword just in time to slice the side of the boar after side stepping the boar’s second charge. Looking at the boar the wound I inflicted on it didn’t seem to slow it down in fact it seemed more agitated than before as it came for a third charge.

When the boar gets close enough to me I surprise it by jumping on it ,noticing the passenger on it the boar jerks wildly and begins to run across the field trying to get me off its back while I hold on to one of its tusks with one hand as I tried to position myself to stab the boar .

A minute later when I feel as if my arm will disconnect form my body the boar stops abruptly, taking the chance I quickly stab my sword through the skull of the boar effectively ending our bouts. Looking at the dead boar I wait for it to disappear but after ten minutes the only thing that has happened is a window popping up telling me I had gained 20 experience points.

I spend the next four hours killing boars and the occasional fox. By night fall I have gained 50 copper coins intending to save my small wealth I head back to the old woman’s house to spend the night while I log out.

By the fourth day after the launch of the game, the city was beginning to empty out as most players spent their time in the heart of the nearby forests grinding or moving to the bigger cities where they could get a larger variety of quests to complete. As for me, I decided to make this city Elmond, my home. After all, I had free food and shelter that was exclusively mine, unless I decided to leave the old woman.

Every day I make sure to log in at 6 A.M. game time so I can help around the house, and then I spend the rest of the morning. Then I spend my afternoons at the edge of the forest killing the wild boars around.

From the old woman, I had learnt that every part of animals and even monsters can be used and there were people willing to buy live monsters ‒ though for now I can’t go deeper into the forest because of my low level, which really bothered me, as the fastest way to level up and increase my avatar stats was to defeat monsters. But I wasn’t strong enough to defeat them yet.

Today after logging in, I move to the kitchen to find another person in the house that I share with the old woman. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” I ask the person. Turning to face me, I see that the person is a girl ‒ about five feet six inches with dark hair wearing a cloak, though through small slits in the cloak I can see armor.

“My name is not of importance,” she replies. I move closer to her, that’s when I step on something sticky. Looking at the floor, I see a red liquid. Seconds later, I realize that what I am seeing is blood. Taking a step back, I scan the kitchen for the source of the blood, and see the old woman lying behind the table with a slit throat.

The best defense is an offense. With that I mind, I take hold of one of the wooden chairs in the kitchen and toss it at the girl, which she blocks with her left arm. She unsheathes a sword with her right hand. Before I can equip my sword from the player menu, she lunges at me with a strike that is meant to decapitate me. Raising my hand I manage to avoid losing my head, but my arm is virtually hanging by a few pieces of bone.

Pain explodes in my hand. I thought this was a game, I yell in my mind as I fight the pain and pull my sword out. The shock of me using my arm as a shield stops the assassin momentarily, and I use this chance to stab her through the heart.

Pulling my sword out of the now dead assassin, I move to where the old woman’s body lays. Kneeling down beside her, I remember how she used to joke around that there were people that would be happy to see her die. Back then I thought she was just an old woman spouting nonsense, but know I can’t help but think that maybe her fears had a reason ‒ but I can’t imagine why someone would want to kill an old woman.

While I kneel there thinking, I fail to see the shadow moving in the city until it looms over me. By then it’s too late, as I feel something blunt hit the back of my head, knocking me unconscious.

When I came to, I was in a dark room. Trying to stand up, I find that my arms and legs are tied to the chair. Suddenly, a bright light enters the room, momentarily blinding me. When my sight returns, I look around to see a person in a cloak with the hood pulled up to hide their face, leaving only the chin and mouth visible.

“What were you doing in one of the members of the mage council’s home?” the hooded person asks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I reply. I don’t see the blow, but I definitely feel the force of the punch on my jaw as it snaps my head to the side. I breathed deeply, feeling the pain in my jaw begins to grow. “Let’s try this again. Why did you kill the mage?” I am asked.

”I don’t know what you are talking about, I only killed someone that killed the old woman I stay with,” I answer. This time I see the fist coming, and I tilt my head to the side to avoid the punch. I guess dodging the punch wasn’t such a good idea, as the hooded person pulls out a slim dagger.

”When you are ready to tell me the truth let me know,” my interrogator says to me. He begins to slice my face, making thin lines. The pain is so much that the game system forces me to log out.

Lifting up the helmet, I place it on the table beside my bed. I feel like I just had a dream in which I was being beat. Moving to the sitting room, I use my laptop to check the Terra online forum that was created by the game makers to help players share tips, and to announce upcoming events.

Scrolling through the posts, I think of ways to escape my current jailer. No doubt there might be other guards, so what I need now is some type of spell that teleports me to another location. But, seeing that I don’t even know how to cast a spell in Terra, I have to first go to the tutorial page the game makers posted. After two minutes of search I finally see it. “There it is,” I say to myself.

How to cast magic spells: In Terra, there are different ways of casting spells; from saying the name of the spell to having the picture of what the spell is to do firmly in the casters mind, and even incantations of three to more sentences for high level spell for the cost of mana. For instance, saying the word ‘fireball’ with the image of the size of fire ball desired materializes a fireball.

Now I need to find if anyone has posted a teleporting spell online. It takes two hours before I can find a spell that transports the caster to another location, but with the spell I found, the caster has no control on where he or she will reappear. Though I can’t complain, I think as anywhere else is better than the room where I am being tortured.

Going back to my room, I put on the helmet and log into the game. The wounds on my face are not as painful as before, though I can still feel a dull throbbing on my face where the blade sliced me. “Welcome back stranger,” a voice says.

Looking around, I see the two hooded people; one with a bloodied blade in his hand and another person, though from the way the cloak hugs the person I can tell it’s a female. “My partner here is the one that healed your arm when you first got here, and she dulled the pain on your face,” the interrogator says to me as he gestures to the woman beside him. “I am going to torture you until you are about to die then have you healed only to repeat this until you confess,” he says as he goes to a table I didn’t notice before, which had knives, hooks, and other torture devices on it.

Seeing the devices on the table motivates me to begin the spell I found. “Oh great west wind, I ask for thy embrace, lead me to safety away from the land of my enemies,” I whisper. Turning to look at me, the healer sees me smirk, and shouts a warning to her partner ‒ just as a bright light engulfs me.