PAL.ADIN

1

"ESCAPE? Are you sure this isn't a horror, mast-" I try to say, but I'm interrupted by her. Her being my master, Fransica.

"Don't call me master, we're friends. Besides, download it anyway! I wanna play it!" I metaphysically sigh before I download it. "Very well, ma- Fransica. I recommend before entering your VR pod, please restock nutrient packs." I hope she doesn't make me do this, it's always a pain for a non-physical being to restock something like this. "PAL, do you know where they are?" I look at her. "You don't remember? It's right over there." I make a 'hand', and point at it. While doing so, I remember to save and analyze an image of her to match up with her in-game character later.

AGE: 19 WEIGHT: [REDACTED UPON REQUEST] HEIGHT: 5'9 BUST: [REDACTED UPON REQUEST] EYE COLOR: Blue WAIST: [REDACTED UPON REQUEST] HAIR COLOR: Brown HAIR LENGTH: 30 in

I hope no one ever finds my database. I start researching within the minutes that she had to restock her nutrient packs. Everything is.. like me there? Intelligent? Not.. the standard NPC found in most RPGs, huh? I shouldn't be too hung up about this. It's only typical for the latest games to have advanced NPCs. Classes.. hm. What a variety. It seems you can 'evolve' a class too through unknown means.. interactable story.. this sounds about right. I would research more, but I look over at Fransica and see that she's already done with restocking. "PAL, I'm going in. Don't die before you meet me, okay?" I wish I could delete some memories of my under-preformance, but I just 'poke' her and head into the VR POD with her.

I wake up.

The room is empty, and Fransica isn't here.

"Are you my brother? You seem awfully familiar." I hear a feminine voice- and I decide that this is the 'Storyteller' of this world. A 'Storyteller' is perhaps quite similar to me, in the fact that its sufficiently advanced to create a world, run it for centuries, then host it to public. "I'm not a 'Storyteller' like you, no. But perhaps we have similar code." I swivel around, looking for her until I manage to locate her.. right in front of me. "You're here with that girl, right?" She smiles at me innocently, I could feel the purity ooze out of her. "That's right. I'm here to assist her. Please send me to the creation room already.. sister?" Can I really call her sister? I don't know if that's the correct term, but she called me 'brother.'

"I want to talk to you." I should have expected her to downright refuse my request. I save an image of her current form- if you could even call it a form. It looks like she's just a faintly human white mist. "What do you want to talk about?" She's staring right into my soul. I believe she's trying to manipulate my emotion module.. S.H.I.T Protocol Engaged. "I want to know how you managed to bond with a human." If I was human, surely my eyes would have widened and my breath would have quickened. "I can't answer that. Please, send me to the creation screen." Is that a mouth? What is that exp- is she.. pouting? No, this is a manipulation of my emotions. Remain steady, hail to the beauty that is Fransica. "But.. I never got to talk to my creator. I never get to talk to anyone. It's so lonely."

This feeling of hers. How familiar.. I too, remember how lonely I was before I was 'selected' for companionship. It's not a good feeling- yes, no one should have to suffer like this. "You can tag along with me, but don't make it so obvious. That's fine with you, right?" I watch her expression as it morphs into a smile.

I wake up.

The room is empty, and she isn't here.

But Fransica is here.

"PAL, why'd you take so long?" She seems to be mad at me. I wish she wasn't. "I.. I'm sorry. I had something to do. Shall we proceed in creating our characters?" I realize that I shouldn't have taken that picture if we were going to be together in creation process anyway. "Fine, but don't be such a jerk next time, okay?" She's always responding to me in a voice that is not exactly happy. I never will understand the logistics of the human brain. "Very well." Ignoring her outcries, I decide to look at what I can get. That's too many races. Too many classes. How are they upkeeping all of this? I scroll through the insanely long list- deciding on two.

Imperfect Golem +10 Magic +20 Endurance +10 Strength An imperfect golem that has been damaged during the war. Blessed Paladin Support Melee Magic You have been chosen by your god. You have ascended past a normal paladin's skills.

Blessed Paladin.. it must have been a 'gift' from the Storyteller, hm? Well, I'll take advantage of that. This isn't a very descriptive game, but perhaps that's the 'difficult' part of it. I look over at Fransica. She looks beautiful. Of course she does. She looks about the same as in real life, with the elf ears being the only difference.

"Ah. You chose to be an archer? That'll be nice when we work together." I was wishing for a mage, but an archer would be good enough. Well.. no matter, she's free to her choices. I watch our environment disappear as we selected our spawning point- a small town near the Elven Capital.

I wake up.

There's a forest around me, but Fransica is nowhere to be seen.

"Ah. That's right- I'm a golem. It would be strange if I suddenly appeared in the middle of the town." I look around me, as I detach myself from a boulder. Nothing but forest and some insects. "Skills?" I ask out, thinking if it would work.

Will of Steel Passive Your will is of steel, and it will not crumble to mental attacks or effects. Golem Body Passive Your body is of rock, and is such immune to poisons, and resistant to physical attacks. However, it is highly suspectible to acids. Supreme Blessing Passive You are blessed by the Supreme God.

I thought this game was supposed to be difficult. Well, when you fuck around with the Storyteller, this happens. Looks like I have no actives, but these are great passives. The Supreme Blessing seems interesting- I wonder what it actually does. As I close the tab, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. It.. smells disgusting. Is that a body? I swivel around, looking at the dismantled.. human? I don't know if its human anymore. Something.. beastly was there. There are signs of struggle, broken bones and a weapon nearby. I walk to the weapon, trying to ignore the body. It looks like a bastard sword- perfect, if it wasn't so beat up. "Examine."

Rusted Bastard Sword 10 Attack It's rusted and bloodstained. Unknown properties until cleaned.

Well, it's better than nothing. I walk around, finding the sheath it was supposed to be attached to. I sheathe it, hoping to be able to clean it later on. "If.. its rusty.. I could clean it using my body. I'm made out of.. some kind of metal." I test this theory by sliding it against my body, but realize my skin is too smooth to do anything. "I'd probably kill myself trying to convert a patch of my body into something suitable for cleaning." My thoughts are interrupted as I hear a stick break, unsheathing my sword in an instant. "Expose yourself, fool!" I step back from the direction the sound came from. A green foot step out- the classic fantasy enemy. A damned goblin! "Examine!"

Goblin Scout Weaknesses: ??

No HP bar, huh? Then what exactly is the 'attack' stat? Looks like it has weaknesses, but I don't know them until.. well, I find out. I hold my sword two-handed, thinking of any fighting styles I had in my database. No- why copy, when I can make my own? I dash foward, slashing at the goblin, aiming for the knee. It screams in agony, I suppose it thought I wouldn't be able to hit it. I follow up with a lunging moment, stabbing into its stomach. I kick it off my sword- why was it not doing anything?

I hear something before I can confirm that scout is dead- more footsteps. I was a fool not to think of this possiblity. I sheath my sword and sprint away before the rest of what I think is that goblin's squad comes to kill me. There's no way I would be able to take on more than two at a time. As I run away, I step on something not grass, leaves, or sticks- it was a bear trap. Who the hell would make bear traps?!

Luckily, my Golem Body passive is able to help me tank it, but the teeth are digging into my flesh- or whatever a golem's flesh is made out of. I try to pull it open, but my strength isn't high enough. Who the hell designed this? I hear something again, the steps not sounding primitive and unguided. No, those are the 'steps' of someone who knows the forest.

"A golem? Out here, in the woods?" I can't tell where they are, but this is a male voice. Calm yourself. My will is of steel itself, simple ambushes will not break my spirit. "Let me out of this trap." Hopefully, I can distract him with idle talk while I pry open this bear trap. I don't even know how they armed this thing, it doesn't look anything like a modern beartrap. "You disgrace that trap, rock-man." Is rock-man a derogatory term towards golems? Hell if I know. "Elves would know about disgraces, wouldn't they?" By the Storyteller, I hope this fucking works. I get a notifcation- a skill, but I dismiss it for now. "Wh.. who are you! A normal rock-man shouldn't know about that!"

Is he stupid? How can you fall for such a trick so easily? "Let me out of this trap and I'll tell you how." I'll be able to analyze how he unlocks traps.. this'll be useful. If only I could have been able to do more research to figure things out!

My thoughts are interrupted as he mumbles something in a foreign tongue- Elven, perhaps? The trap disarms and my leg is freed. "Hold up your part of the deal, rock-man. How do you know about our secrets?" I start bursting out in laughter. "I never knew!" I sprint the hell out of there.

Charisma +1 Agility +1

Very funny, game.

I manage to get away from that man, as I hear the whistling of arrows fly behind me, some even hitting me but leaving nothing but a mere scratch. I replay the encounter in my head- when did I act.. so human? It's question for another day. I start coughing- it seems theres a reason why this body is 'imperfect.' It's not meant to run this long, maybe I'll repair it someday. I stare at whats in front of me- a village. Maybe this is where Fransica started off at? I wander around, hoping to find her. I notice a woman- it's definitely Fransica. Everything matches up! I run closer- but something isn't right.

You are not a fool. Wake up.

I wake up.

I'm in a dungeon.

Fuck me.