Ugh, finally work was done for the day. Dan was mentally exhausted since he spent all day working with his coworkers on a new engine that he and his coworkers were hired to rigorously test for bugs. Finally after being held up and additional hour, since someone decided to not properly shut down the program and almost corrupted the document containing all the bugs they had found, he could get back into Eternium. He was excited about getting back into the world. While he wasn’t sure he could kill rabbits yet he could certainly buy the skins if worst came to worst for the quest. But with and entire six days left he wasn’t worried.

Getting back into the game he reveled in the hustle and bustle of the strange city. Not quite knowing what to do he got directions to the gate and decided he might try to find some stray rabbit and try to kill it. Though he didn’t quite feel ready for that as of yet. Dan was sure some opportunity would present itself to help him along though. ‘Danniel!’ Speaking of opportunities… this mystical voice sounds just like the classic start to any good quest.

Looking around he saw the only place the voice could have come from, a massive temple devoted to the gods. Going inside he looked around. No real clues but any god that would be interested in him would likely be on the darker section. While he wasn’t interested in joining some evil god’s cult he could certainly look around. Perhaps these gods would be less uptight then those mages and give him some spells.

‘Danniel.’’ Just as he was about to walk past what looked like an empty nook in the wall, which otherwise was resplendent in the statues and shrines of gods and goddesses within every other nook, stood what looked like a smashed up bunny statue. Trying to contain his laughter he realized he must have been called by some god of bunnies. What was the game trying to tell him? Maybe in another few years of grinding he could become king of the forest bunnies around here.

After a few minutes he gained control of himself and stooped to place a hand on the statue. As he did he was transported to a space surrounded by broken and shattered statues of various things. From foxes to living trees as far as the eye can see. Though there didn’t seem to be one whole statue. Finally he spotted a man clad in leather, with gray hair thick enough to be called armour covering his whole body, sitting on a miserable wooden throne, made from the same marble as the statues. The throne was barely being held up by a massive marble shield that looked like it would fit the larger than life man comfortably. Though as he noticed Dan his glum face broke into a huge smile.

“Ah, Dan, welcome welcome! I’m glad you got my messages. Do make yourself at home!” The God, or what Dan thought must have been a god of this world, waved at a statue and the top half finished falling off, creating a stool for Danny to sit in. “Oh, no no. Not at all what I meant to do. Well I suppose it will do for a chair. Please take a seat. I have an offer for you.”

Dan sat in the ‘chair’, off to the side of the God and said what was on his mind. “I’m Dan, though I imagine you already know, but what I want to know is, what can I do for you? I’m not a fan of sitting around and time.” Dan tried to be assertive, knowing that he couldn’t afford to be pushed around. He joined the game to avoid that specifically.

“Wonderful, wonderful. Yes, let us not waste time. As you can see I am a God. Though at the moment I lack even a single worshiper. This blessing and curse was given to me by,” The God seemed to choke on his words and he let out a world weary sigh. “I guess the who doesn 't much matter. No, no. It doesn’t. What I am proposing to you is that you join my worshipers… well join as my first. And I know that I cannot ask you to do such for free so here is what I will do.”

“I am Cladicus and my abilities are based on monsters and animals as you can see by the statues around you. Though right now with no worshippers I have no knowledge of these creatures. My power over creatures grow as I gain knowledge so I need worshippers to gain knowledge. I can’t ask you to be a cleric though. You would be a terrible cleric, with your necromantic powers getting in the way. Unless I were an evil god that is. I am a neutral deity though. Enough with the introductions though. I said I wouldn’t waste time yet here I am rambling like some wizened old man.”

“By using a spell I will grant you as a worshipper you will be able to scan animals, monsters, and other creatures that are not humanoids. By doing this I will grant you spells or other suitable rewards based on the amount of knowledge gained. You may scan a type of creature up to three times but each time you scan it you will lose the ability to loot it since it will be transported here. Not only that, I will share my knowledge of these creatures with you. Usually this would only be useful to tamers but for a necromancer you could specialize in raising creatures from the dead and once your spell ends or the creature dies you will be able to convert them for me.”

Dan had stayed quiet the whole time and took a minute more to think through this information. Basically he could not only raise his creatures but raise even more powerful ones after scanning them. On top of that he would be learning spells for free? Win, win, win for him. He tried to find some downside but didn’t see any. Dan knew intellectually it was impatience that got him killed before but he knew he needed to get out before he died again… this time from boredom of not doing anything that related to killing things in this game.

“I agree to your terms as long as you swear I may leave at any time.” Cladicus beamed happily at Dan, as though not really believing he would actually help the old man. Dan felt slightly guilty as surely he was getting far more out of this deal then him but he wasn’t one to question the game mechanics.

“Of course, of course, my boy! I actually don’t have that power over anyone in any case but it’s always good to make sure you don’t have no way out of a group or faction! The only ones that would have no way out would be those you don’t want in with anyways. Give me just a minute to grant you the scan spell and a bonus for agreeing to this.” It took several minutes of general cursing and profanity from the strange god but finally a light shone from him and coalesced onto Dan granting him his second spell in the game, as well as a new passive.

Scan (Novice I): Scan a corpse over the course of five seconds to learn more information about it for you and your god. Once completed the body will melt into the ground and become unlootable and cannot be used further. Cost: 10 mana

Shield Bash (Novice I): Many warriors have learned to use the shield purely for defense. You have taken it a step further and learned how to fight with it. Unless using other skills all your regular attacks become Shield Bash. Deal 1*n extra damage to a target when hitting with a shield, where n = Skill Level.

“Go now, Danniel. I must rest after giving these gifts. Now go and make me proud… or rather go and make us both stronger as I doubt you care too much about me being proud of you.” The God finished with a grin before Dan was booted out of the strange world. Giving a quick nod of thanks to the altar, Dan all but sprinted out of the room, eager to try his new gifts on the fluffy bunnies outside.Though since he wanted to practice in peace he made sure to hide further into the forest off to the side of the path. Still within the bunny territory but well out of sight of other players. Making sure to carefully sneak up on a Rabbit this time, he raised his shield and brought the spike crashing down on the rabbit, his body somehow slightly correcting his aim to hit the rabbit in the head.

A number 2 popped up and Dan jumped back to put distance between them before crouching on the ground and holding his shield up just in time for a resounding clang to pop up. And though he took a solid three points of damage it was still less then before and the pain was far more bearable. Quickly retaliating he let out a war cry and smacked the rabbit again eliciting another 2 to pop up. And the bunny gave a squeak before falling over. Dan whooped in elation! He did it! He killed… he killed a rabbit. Now that he thought about it more it didn’t seem like quite the achievement.

Though he wasn’t done with it yet. He brought up his spell list and tried to click on the Necromantic Resurrection spell but failed to activate it that way. He sighed and tried to figure out what he was doing wrong. Looking at his shield he realized he wasn’t thinking of the situation as a real game. He just had to treat the game as if it were real, right? His Shield Mastery helped him without him having to think about it… so maybe if he just tried to cast the spell it would work?

Focusing on the rabbit on the ground he thought about reviving it and his body did the rest. Words poured from his mouth and his hands moved in odd ways. But he couldn’t think about that through the almost unbearable pain. He could feel both mana and blood ripping through his veins causing him to rethink every ounce of pain he had ever felt in his life. Hot molten ropes of metal ripped through every blood vessel and his body began to spasm until finally three seconds later the rabbit twitched and stood up while he collapsed in place of it.