The starting continent- which should last players a hundred years or so- is vast. It is the size of North America, and players will likely be spread out throughout the continent. At first the game will be PVE. That is, until they come across each other- then it is anyone’s game – Senator Chambers, introducing legislation to fund DIO

I looked around and saw that I was in a heavily forested area. It was beautiful. There were all kinds of trees- pine, oak, maple, sycamore. There were also trees I did not know that I was sure were too fantastical to be real. One had a brown-orangish bark with leaves that were bright pink.

The ground was littered with leaves, though it felt like early spring. Must have been last year’s leaves, I thought. I could also see other things growing, like little patches of grass and mushrooms, bushes, and vines. The air was crisp but not cold. In fact, it was my favorite temperature.

I always ran hot. It was one of the few points of contention I would have with Jason- the temperature. I was a big guy, so I needed it to be cool. Jason was tall, muscular, but lean. He liked the temperature high. The poor thermostat AI was constantly given different and contradictory directives.

I could also look up and see some blue. Good, I mused, it is mostly Earth-like. Hopefully without the radiation. Being out in the sun was dangerous on Earth by the time I was 15. This was a rare treat- one that I could live with for 200 years. What a luxury!

I decided to start moving. But which direction? “Dammit” I said, realizing that other than navigation, I had no survival skills for being out in nature. I just didn’t think about it. And navigation was seemingly useless as I didn’t have a clue where to go.

I realized then that I had a backpack on my shoulder- perhaps there was a map? I took the backpack off and looked inside it. There appeared to be some food- labeled Ambrosia when I analyzed it. It was 3 rations worth. There was a small box containing what looked to be flint and a striker for lighting a campfire. There was also a change of clothing- wool clothing. The shirt was a deep blue, the trousers a black color that looked grayer than anything in the sunlight. There was also another pair of shoes and some cotton shorts that I took to be underwear. The clothes all matched what I was wearing currently. There was no map.

I checked my pockets, there was nothing in them. I noticed on my belt, though, was a sword. It was pathetic looking, barely more than a practice sword except that its edges were sharp. I also had a filled waterskin and a money purse with nothing in it. And near my feet was a shield. I bent over and picked it up. I put my left arm through the loops on the back, and I felt I instinctively knew what to do with it. I took my sword in hand- it was a short blade and once again I felt like I knew how to handle it. Skills were amazing.

I felt a little better armed, but still was lost. I picked a direction, southwest, and started to walk. In the real world, I hated walking and indeed hated any exercise. I was just plain lazy and anytime I tried to physically exert myself, I grew tired instantly. I was sure that the concept of the ‘runner’s high’ was a lie to shame fat people.

In here, however, it felt good to walk. My muscles stretched and I felt limber and refreshed. Is this what it is like to be muscular, I thought bitterly. This seems unfair if it is. Part of me wanted to, dare I say it, jog. I thought this with horror. I wanted to jog? What next, would pushups sound like fun? I shuddered in bewilderment and mock disdain as I moved through the woods. I decided not to jog as I would likely trip over roots and use too much energy up when I didn’t know where I was going.

I walked in a general southwestern direction, or at least I assumed I was, guessing the sun was rising in the east and setting in the west. It was near noon but somehow, I knew the direction it was setting- the navigation skill at work probably.

After about 20 minutes I noticed a flower. It smelled wonderful, and I wanted to go touch it. I had no idea why, but the thought just came into my head. I started to move toward it. It was a deep red, and shaped in a half oval, folding in on itself as if it was a purse. It was big, too, almost as big as me. At this point something in me paused. What was I doing, going to touch a man-sized flower that looked like the head of a Venus Flytrap? But the smell was so enticing, and the leaves looked like they somehow wanted to be touched. The smell began to cloud my mind- it was a floral scent, but it somehow reminded me of a hamburger and fries. A juicy hamburger, with onions and tomatoes and mustard and ketchup and pickles and no lettuce.

Distantly I was aware of a thought that went through me head-

Composure roll failed.

I paid it no attention as I drifted slowly, closer to the flower. I wanted to know it better, to discover what it was, so I looked at it more closely and analyzed it.

Mantrapper

Carnivorous Plant

Total XP Earned: 50

Status: Hostile

My mind instantly snapped to. I decided to turn around and get out of there. But as I was turning, I felt something wrapping around my legs. It was a vine of sorts. I fell to the ground in surprise and felt myself being dragged to the plant.

Against All Odds! +3% to all affected stats (morale, speed and health regen)

I started to panic. This thing had more XP than I did, though I was not sure if 50 XP was a lot or a little. Judging on XP costs, I guessed it was a fair amount. Even the fact that Against All Odds was in play was disheartening.

I fumbled to get out my shield and sword. I had put them away because they were tiring to have on at all time. My sword came out easily, though I had a hard time getting the shield off my back since I was on top of it. I would just have to go with my sword only.

I struck at the vine.

.25 damage to Mantrapper!

Mantrapper tightens its hold, .1 damage received.

I only had 5.9 HP left. I was glad it didn’t do much damage! I started hacking away at the vine, and finally it let go of its grasp after I did a full 1 HP of damage. I stood up and grabbed my shield. I started to run when I stopped myself. I was immortal, I might die fighting this plant, but then again, I might not. I might also increase my skills and get XP. I decided to stay and fight now that I was equipped with my sword and shield and standing upright again.

I ran at the mouth of the plant. Its scent was really kind of disturbing now, a mixture of rotting flesh and floral scents. I saw more vines come up and try to grab me. I blocked the attempts with my shield, albeit a little clumsily. I then slashed at the body of the mantrapper.

.25 Damage to Mantrapper! Mantrapper looks slightly injured.

A vine lashed back at me, this time hitting my face.

Mantrapper slashes your face, .2 damage received.

I noticed finally that while I had been fighting a HUD (Heads Up Display) had started to show in my vision. My Health was in a red bar taking up the left side of my peripheral vision. It was a vertical bar, it read 5.7/6 and as damage was taken the red bar fell downward. My Willpower was on the left right side in blue. It too was a vertical bar that read 7/7. Social Graces was on the top of my vision and was a horizontal yellow bar. It read 5/5. Finally, on the bottom of my vision was a white bar that was my Zeal, it too read 5/5. The bars formed a frame of my vision. It did not take any of my visual space, as it was always on the edge of my vision. It was a handy display. In the top right corner, I noticed a small box with a fist. I looked at it more closely and it said:

Against All Odds! +3% to all affected stats (morale, speed and health regen)

I noticed a cheat in this Tactic. It would tell me if I were fighting something more dangerous than myself and it would tell me how dangerous it was on a scale of 1 to 25. That would be useful. I put my head back in the present and slashed again at the mantrapper. This time I missed and missed badly.

0 damage done to Mantrapper, you critically failed!

I overextended myself when I was swinging and left my back open to be attacked. A vine did .3 damage to me. I got back into position and sliced at the mantrapper, doing .2 damage. This time it gave me some flavor text that it looked moderately injured. It must not have much Brawn, I thought. But then, neither did I. We were dealing roughly equal damage to each other and something had to happen, or the outcome would be a pyrrhic victory at best. I tried to spend a willpower point and I was attacking it.

Brawn attributes average increased by +1 for 5 seconds.

I decided to take advantage of the willpower point and slashed at the mantrapper twice in a row. It took a whole point of damage from the two slashes combined. I seemed to move a little faster and dodged two attacks from vines. There was no health bar above the mantrapper and all I had was the visual appearance of the mantrapper and the flavor text that sometimes popped up when I did damage. It would have to do. My mind raced. So far, I had done 1.7 damage to the mantrapper and it had done .6 damage to me. My shield had blocked a lot of the incoming damage.

For the five seconds the willpower boost was active, I did more damage and received none. I didn’t think social graces would help, but maybe Zeal would? I only had 5 and something told me to wait a bit before I used it. I then took a vine slash to my calves for .3 damage. I winced, as it really hurt. So too did the wounds on my face, and I could feel the blood trickle down my face and onto my neck and clothes. The pain felt like it was at 100%, and I wondered if I could dial it down. I continued fighting for the moment, though and stabbed into the flesh of the mantrapper.

Critical hit! You do .5 damage to Mantrapper! Mantrapper looks Injured.

I looked closely at my opponent and it did look like it was wounded. It was bleeding sap in a few different places. I noticed that besides my occasional groan and the leaves crunching that the mantrapper was making no sound as it moved and fought. It was eerily quiet, this fight.

We exchanged some more blows, I wheedled it down to 3 total damage taken and it had done almost 2 points to me. I then remembered about my Zeal and I used it, the white par plummeted by 20%, and I instinctively knew I could replace Willpower, Health Points or Social Graces. I chose to heal and I was down to 1 point HP loss!

So, willpower boosts a category of attributes by 1, and Zeal fills up one of my expendables on a 1 for 1 basis, I thought. I idly wondered if mantrapper had the expendables and used them. It hadn’t looked like it healed yet.

We fought blow for blow for another thirty seconds. I started to breathe heavily from the exertion. Nice to know I had some physical limitations, I thought to myself. I wondered if I had given myself more muscles if I would not be out of breath. It was not like when I was overweight, however. I felt good, the muscles burned a little, but that too felt good. Am I getting a god damned runner’s high, I wondered grumpily? Of course, healthy people would feel good when they exercised. Why give motivation to a fat ass who wants to work out? No, that feels fucking terrible afterwards. The irony of the situation distracted me, and I took another hit to the face.

“Ow, not the face, please!” I took the opportunity to punish the weird flower and did .3 more damage.

Sword Skill has increased to 2!

The skill up seemed to empower me more and I started to hack away at the flower with more speed and grace. I blocked an incoming vine attack and notice my Against All Odds box disappeared. I wondered idly if that was because I had wounded it so much or if I had gained the sword skill. I would have to experiment more on that.

The flower looked like it was almost totally dead- it was definitely injured and its vines seemed more sluggish. This inspired me more and I quickly dealt a few more attacks, meanwhile avoiding damage.

Then suddenly, right before I attacked it, I got a thought in my head.

This attack will kill the flower. Do I want to kill it? I responded to the foreign question in my mind by delivering it a death blow.

Congratulations, you killed Mantrapper! You get 1 willpower for killing something for the first time! You get 5 XP!

Well, that is a lot of exclamation points. My willpower filled to 6. My Zeal stayed at 4, and my health was down to 3.5/6. I looked to see if I got any loot from the flower. It looked like I did. As I touched it, I realized that I could take the heart of the flower. I looted it and put it into my bag. Maybe it could be sold or eaten. The process was as simple as taking it from one inventory screen to another.

I wondered how I could get back my expendables. I didn’t like walking around without max health and zeal. Instantly words zipped across my vision, and even more quickly I soaked up the information in my mind.

Willpower increased by 1 after a good night’s sleep and sometimes would be awarded for accomplishing a task.

Social graces increased by 1 after a scene in which you feel you accomplished something on your agenda or when someone praises your deed publicly.

Health increased by .1 every minute out of combat and .05 every minute while in combat.

Zeal increased by 1 per day after having at least a half hour of mediation. It could also be increased if someone prayed in your name.

I then thought about dialing down the pain. I got a warning:

Dialing down the pain could cause your brain to not believe it is taking damage, possibly causing the brain to atrophy. Also, pain is good in that it is a warning system to you that you might ignore if a wounds is indeed not painful enough. Do you want to lower your pain threshold?

I sighed and decided to keep it at full level- it was nice to know I could dial it down, though.

I started walking again and watched my health increase every minute. It was slow moving, but at least it was moving in the right direction. After another half hour of walking- and getting my full HP back- I noticed that my clothes that had rips and tears no longer had them, they had cleaned and repaired themselves- nice!

I then stared hearing the sounds of a creek or maybe even a river. I might not have survival, but I knew if I followed a river long enough, I would find a settlement. I just wondered if it would be a Yeshuan or Gar’shan.