NPCs are controlled by their own AI- each one would pass the Turing test individually, their personality encompassing over 2000 separate traits. What this means is that no two people are truly alike in the world. While the ethnicities all have their general characteristics, the individuals might or might not resemble those personality traits. The killing of an NPC should be taken seriously, as you are snuffing out a unique individual with their own thoughts, aspirations and dreams- DIO

I got to the river. It was larger than I thought it would be, spanning roughly 50m across. It was a slow-moving river that did not have any white foam due to rapids. It was light, Aegean blue in color, but almost muck brown when you looked at the water closely. I thought about the fish in the river, and then I thought about food in general, and then I realized I was a bit hungry.

I looked around before I sat at a gentle hill facing the river. I got out my rations and took half of one ration. In myths, Ambrosia was the food of the gods. I wondered what this would taste like.

It looked like hardtack, a travel ration that looked like a bready cracker. Hardtack was generally unappealing, so I did not have much hope. Then I bit into it, and my mouth melted the hardtack into full bliss. It tasted like that hamburger I thought of before with the flower. It might have been the best burger I had ever tasted before. I salivated at the taste, and suddenly the half-ration didn’t seem like nearly enough. I sighed and put the ration away. Who knew how long I would have to make this last?

Wisdom roll succeeded.

I rolled my eyes at the information but was secretly pleased with myself. In the real world, I would have eaten all three rations right away. Maybe muscular and fit people also could control their food intake better. Another unfair point in their favor. I waited a few more minutes, just looking around when I noticed a high pitch screaming.

It was a god-awful sound, one that I heard before but could not quite place it. I got up and tried to look for the source of the scream. I found it a minute later. The poor thing was a dappled brown hare caught in a snare trap. It had a wild, panicked look and was desperately trying to escape the trap. I placed the sound once I saw the pitiful creatures. I had a pet rabbit, once that died by being chased by a dog, and the scream of the panic-stricken rabbit haunted me for months.

I then thought about the trap- traps indicate someone must be near and if I waited long enough, I might find them. I looked at the rabbit not knowing what to do about it. Letting it live while in this condition was cruel, but I also didn’t want to antagonize the trapper. I wondered if it could knock it out. I sort of thought I could.

I looked for a hand sized rock and found one. I was going to attempt to hit the rabbit on the head, dazing it or knocking it out without killing it. I hit it- hard, but not as hard as I could.

You injured the Brown Hare! You can inflict it with the status of unconscious due to bludgeoning it in the head. Do you want to inflict the negative status?

Instantly I willed it to happen. The rock hit the hare soundly on the head, and it collapsed. The warning system was like the warning that came when I was hitting the mantrapper and was told my next attack would kill it. The thoughts flickered so quickly in my mind that I was hardly slowed down, if at all. It was too fast to be a nuisance. The thought was almost organic, making me think it was I who had the thought- almost. I wondered what the logic was of the warning system. I mean, it would be nice in a duel to avoid death or permanent injury, but I figured if I was fighting, then I likely wanted the enemy to die. I shrugged, yet another mystery of the system to unravel.

Now that the screaming had stopped, poor thing, I was ready to wait for the trapper. I sat down and started to investigate the system, hoping it would trigger the system to respond with more information.

First, I looked at my tactics. Against All Odds was a passive skill, a first-tier tactic that could be increased with 50 XP to get to level 2. The cost was 25 XP per level. The system showed that if I would increase it to level two the bonus to would be from +2% to +26% to morale, speed and heath regen. It also hinted that further level increases might unlock new stats to get a bonus for or even additional functionality.

There were other tactics and tactic trees available. Against All Odds was part of the Passive skill tree. Unlocking it had unlocked 2 more tactic skills. Battlefield Awareness gave me an innate knowledge of reading the battle scene and knowing how the events were unfolding. Useful for when I had a large army, but less so for now.

The other tactic available in the Passive Tactic Tree was Hardiness. It allowed me and my party to require less drink and food needed to survive. Now that would have been useful in my real life, assuming we got hungry and thirsty less along with the need for food and drink. And it would be useful here too.

The second tactic tree available was the Active Tactics Tree. It had one active tactic available. Charge was one that would allow the player to use it to increase the speed at which the ally army ran to attack the enemy. It was useful in the first charge and would help with first rounds damage as well. I found that to be extremely exciting. It would start a battle off well, and coupled with the Against All Odds’ boost to speed it could be a game changer. The tactic cost a willpower to enact.

There was a third tactic tree seemed to be slightly different. The Infused Tactic Tree offered active powers that cost a willpower point and another expendable like Social Graces, Zeal and even Hit Points. They also cost more. 35 xp times new level of tactic. That was pricey, to say the least. The only one available to me at the time was Battle Cry, in which I bellow a command to the battle scene and all allies who heard it and acted upon the order gained .25 damage addition to their next attack. Conversely, every enemy who heard the command was distracted for 1 second. That seemed like it could change the tide of a battle.

It looked like the most useful Tactic to me immediately was Hardiness. Before that I wanted to maybe increase my attributes. I was quickly discovering this game was about resource management. Willpower and Zeal were especially useful and keeping a close look at Hit Points was crucial. Since there were no levels, XP was king. It would buy everything, and nothing would increase naturally once you came to a threshold.

I then investigated boons to see if I could purchase more of those. I discovered that every increase in power level would allow me to buy 1 boon and 1 domain. The power levels were: Mortal, Hero, Demi-god, Fledgling God, God, and Elder God. For those who didn’t want to become a god (maybe they served a monotheistic deity, maybe they just felt it was wrong to portray a deity) the levels were: Mortal, Hero, Saint, Angel, Archangel and Aspect. To achieve a new power level, you must break the limitations of the current power level. The minute I bought an attribute to level 6 or increased any 1 skill with XP to 6. The first skill or attribute must be manually increased with XP beyond the power level limitation to increase the power level.

I looked around and did not see the trapper, so I thought I might meditate to get my zeal back. I was never good at meditation in the real world, my mind always ran a mile a minute and trying to be peaceful caused my mind to go into overdrive. But I tried it anyway.

I started off with a half-hearted ‘ohmmmm’ and then tried to breathe slowly. I started to wonder where the nearest town was and how I was going to get more food. Then I thought of Ambrosia and wondered what my next meal would taste like. That somehow led my thinking to cooking meals for Jason and Alexis, and I started missing them terribly. 200 years was going to take forever. I then realized my mind was wondering and I tried another half-hearted ‘ohmmmm’.

It went on like this for a few minutes until I realized I needed to get more serious about meditation. Instead of ‘ohm’-ing myself to death I thought I would try channeled breathing. I did that for about 3 minutes before I got lightheaded and switched to just thinking about nothing important. About 30 minutes in I received the following notification:

You learned a new skill, Mediation. You gain 1 point of Zeal.

I smiled and stood up. Already mastering meditation! Feeling good about having all my expendables maxed out, I started looking around and saw what I thought could be a person walking towards me. I got excited, I started waving frantically in order to get the attention of the unknown man- or woman. It raised its hand and waved at me and then veered to come directly at my path. Finally, I could see that it was a man, and he was carrying what looked like a fishing pole, a backpack, and a chain of three fish tied to his waist.

I walked towards him with my hands up to denote that I was peaceful. A few steps away he said ‘Hello traveler! I see you found my trap! Did you kill it?” he said, not unfriendly.

I looked at his face and caught myself. This looked like a Yeshuan- and the stranger was speaking Yeshuan too. How I knew that and how I literally understood the language mystified me. More than that, the man surprised me. He was brown haired, brown eyed, but lacked the scars and creepy smile that Dio showed me during character creation. Instead he had a very handsome, symmetrical face and was well built. He was cute! I chastised myself. Jason and I had agreed that 1000 years was too long to wait for each other sexually and that we could have sex and serious relationships with AIs, but not other players. I had meant it for him, I didn’t want him to be lonely. But I had expected that I would stay single out of loyalty to Jason. Instead, I start thinking that the first person I met was hot. I started yelling at myself in my head, saying that I was being disloyal. Then I calmed down. I could certainly look at other men, that would be fine. And this man was likely not gay, so problem solved,

“I knocked it out, it was screaming pretty loud and frantically.” I said, apologetically. He nodded, seeming to understand. I continued: “anyway, my name is-“

What would you like your name on this world to be?

I mentally thought for a second. If I called myself Seth Sheppard then players might realize that it was me as a player. I was something of a minor celebrity due to my parents. I decided to keep the name Seth but changed my last name.

“- Seth, Seth Freeman” I finished lamely. It was the only name I could think of that a Gar’shan that was freed might have.

“Hi Seth! My name is Jonar. Listen, feel comfortable around me. I had friends that were Gar’shan growing up. I am fine with them- with you, I mean.” He said this all friendly and kindly. I thought it was a little cliché to say, but I accepted the sentiment.

“Thanks. I must admit that makes me feel better. I didn’t want the first person I have seen in days feel animosity towards me for little reason.”

He nodded, smiling.

“I got to warn you, friend, that not everyone around here feels the same way I and my friends do. Just… be careful. We are close enough to the Solom territory that things can get a little tense.”

“Is that where we are? You see, I am lost and I have been travelling alone, wandering around for a few… days. I actually was just freed from Taurus and I left on my own. Trying to get to Solom has been difficult.” My backstory needed work, but it was believable, I hoped.

“A freed Gar’shan from Taurus, you say. That sure is a rarity. You must have been incredibly lucky or somehow wealthy. I heard it takes a year’s basic civilian salary to buy your freedom.”

“Lets just say I was very lucky and had good friends that helped me.” I said, somewhat pathetically. My backstory definitely needed work.

“Well, I tend to travel a bit from here, Tolloc Province, to Solom when I have enough hides and furs to sell. If you want, you can stay with me for a few days and I will travel with you. I don’t know what you have heard, but Solom is much kinder to Gar’Shan than other territories in Yeshua. They kind of have to be, as Gar’shan are the majority of people in Solom.”

My heart lifted. I had been lucky to meet this man. He seemed very kind to me and was willing to help me out. “That is very generous of you. I think I will take you up on that. Unfortunately, I have little money and no hunting skills but I – “

He waved my concerns away. “I guessed as much. No worries. I have food enough for both of us with this rabbit and the fish I caught earlier, and my stockpile of furs is almost where I need it to be to be profitable enough to travel to Solom. It can’t hurt to have someone come with me, someone with a sword and shield. Know how to use them?”

“I am not a master at them, but I know enough to protect myself- and you if I need to.”

“Sounds good! Let’s get this all back to my home and get to skinning and eating the day’s catch!” He said as he bent over and killed the unconscious hare with a quick, practiced neck crack.

It took about an hour to get to Jonar’s house. He said that his house was on the outskirts of a small town named Riverbank. It was near the river, though I couldn’t see the town that was nearby. Jonar said it was still a kilometer or so away.

His house was a large hut that could house three or four people. Jonar explained that he and his friends lived there. They all shared their skills and resources and was able to afford a comfortable life because of it. He led me into the hut, but what I saw there was a mess. Three dead bodies lay on the floor, having had their throats slit. Blood was everywhere. Jonar let out a yell of alarm and ran to his dead friends.

I didn’t notice a third living person in the hut until it was too late. He rushed towards Jonar and put a knife to his throat. Jonar stood up and put his hands up.

“Time to die, heretic.” The stranger said.

Against All Odds activated! +25 to all affected stats.

Shit, I thought. This fight is almost unwinnable. It was too late though. I had to save the only other person I knew in this whole world.