Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.

***************************************************************************************************

Swamy stared at himself in the mirror. He yawned. He was still sleepy.

The last night he had trouble sleeping. Side effects of being restless from a great fight or atleast that's what he assumed. His body felt excited, eager to move, like the fight had not been enough. He did not know how to classify it, whether it was excitement....or just a bad feeling in his stomach which might trouble him later on. In either case he did not sleep well.

He moved and stretched and felt his body was fine now. He did not feel uneasy or excited....just normal.

'I guess that's good!'

Swamy started his preparations to attend class.

Lunch time again, and he was sitting with Manish, Himali, Sneha and Rajan in the cafeteria. It was sort of strange that he brought his own lunch. Usually the food in the cafeteria wasn't bad, and people preferred eating there or eating out at places close by. Atleast that was true for the first years. By the second year and above, students realized the value of economy. Not that they did not spend, they had full blown parties but they worked and earned some of that money from doing odd jobs around campus or outside. Like Swamy was doing. In fact he knew a senior, a 3rd year named Christopher, who worked with him in the movers company. He had been working there for quite some time now, and had become one of the managers. Well in simplest terms, he got to assign people tasks and manage all the lifting. So much for a manager.

It was he who now approached his table.

"Hi Swamy!"

"Oh hey Christopher, what's up!"

"Yeah...sorry to trouble you while eating. But there's been a lot of bookings this weekend. We might have to work extra time. You okay with that? I need to find out how many people can manage so I can plan accordingly."

"Yeah I am good. I can work!"

"That's good. We were running short on the guys who can operate the heavy lifters. Two of them just took leave on account of the long holidays coming up. And its just our busiest time too. With the *Dusshera/Diwali break coming up people are leaving for their homes or the beaches (*Indian festivals, usually give long holidays when it occurs close together. It follows the Lunar calendar so it can happen once in a few years. Kinda like long holidays over Christmas and New Years!).

"Hmm...no I haven't got plans. My parents just visited and they plan to go attend a conference in the holidays so I am available."

"Fine see you later then..." he said as a ping came from his phone. Even Rajan suddenly looked unsettled as he stared at his phone.

"Holy ***" "Wow!" Both of them started speaking together. Realizing that, both of them looked up at each other.

"Do you by any chance play Long Island?" asked Rajan.

"Yes! You do too eh. Do all of you play?"

Everyone nodded.

"Hehehehe then you will want to hear this!" and Christopher and Rajan both looked at each other and smiled excitedly.

"Why don't you sit down though..." offered Himali and Christopher pulled up a chair.

"So why are you guys looking so excited?" asked Sneha.

"Well someone posted it just now. Its titled Blessings! Seems like npcs bless you in the game. According to the post it happens when you have a lot of familiarity with the npc. A lot of people are getting it once they reach the age to leave the village." Rajan added.

"Wow that's amazing! So we will be able to get those blessing as well. What kind of blessing do you get anyway? What do they do...?" Sneha asked.

"Hmm its kinda vague on that point..." Rajan looked at his cellphone moving his fingers.

"Actually, I can tell you about it. Blessings are different based on who you get blessed by. And it may or may not be related to actual fighting. So far there are blessings which help you in fighting like giving you buffs but then there are also ones which improve your luck in finding a certain fruit. The same npc can give different blessings to different people. So far we don't know what exactly triggers each blessing. Its kinda random as far as we can tell." Christopher said a lot about it.

Everyone stared at him. "Yeah...the guy who wrote this post is part of my guild. It seems its kinda become the most popular post in the forum." he added.

"So are you saying, you guys have already been out of the village already. Where did you start?" Rajan asked suddenly very interested.

"Well we started randomly. I started up in Dalmund village and a few of my guildmates started there as well."

"So why haven't you told the others about it? You know you could have helped a lot of us with the information you know!" Sneha quipped.

"Hey hey calm down. Everyone would want to have an advantage in the game right.." Manish added.

"Yes. And its not like we hide all the information. We just let it out after figuring out how it works...and after it has been vetted by the guild that it should be shared. We try to help each other in the guild which also means sharing information within the guild first. My friends are a good lot, so a lot of it gets out eventually."

"Yeah...and I am far more interested in what you can tell us anyway!!" Himali added.

"Well I can tell you about some of it...but please forgive me if I do not give some details!"

"Hmm...first of all, how do you create a guild in the game? I wanted to make one, but so far I couldn't find any information about it in the village. The system menu also doesn't have anything of that sort. The only thing we have been able to is register friends." Himali asked.

"Ah! You cannot do that in the starting villages. In the capital, there is a guild office where you need to apply to make your guild. The information about it is a little vague as of yet. But I can tell you this, the guild system is a little different. Usually when you make a guild, you just need a group of people together. But there is talk about a guild base. You would need a base, I am not sure... whether we have to purchase it or build it. As I said information about it is quite vague. It seems you need more familiarity with the npcs to get more information."

"Hmmm...so we need to get to the capital city first! But wait if you don't know, how did you guys make it then?"

"We didn't! Actually we are a group who always play together in other games so we made a guild in real life. You know keep in touch, regular meetings and discussions, etc. We do plan on making one in the game too though."

"Ah that's nice. So could you tell us more about the blessings and the age system and how to earn more money...and..."

"Woah...hold on! One question at a time!" Christopher interrupted Rajan.

"First of all, the information about individual blessings we got is kind of classified." Rajan made a face hearing that.

"But I can say that there are different levels of blessings. So far, we have come across common and rare. I think it depends on your relationship with the npc. It is also not guaranteed, you will be blessed once you get to the age of leaving the village. Also, you do not get blessed by all the npcs you know. There might be some other mechanics involved here."

Everyone listened attentively. Christopher laughed at seeing their serious faces and as they relaxed a little bit, he continued.

"The age system is still a mystery. Earning money is difficult. It seems beginner monsters don't drop anything. I don't know if it changes later...! The easiest way to earn money is to get a job. It is also the most earnings you get atleast at the start. You can also use your skills, you know cooking tailoring etc, to get meat or leather from the monsters and sell them. Ah....it seems the monsters don't disappear like in other games, so you can carry it with you. You can then sell them in the village."

"Oh that's strange! It will change the way economy is run in the game if it continues. Maybe that's to make players focus on some skills rather than simply gaining a whole lot of them" Himali said.

"Not sure! People can learn and build up on a lot of skills as well. As far as we have seen, a lot of skills are not simple. You start learning one skill, but when you finally learn it, you gain more skills automatically. Its like there are hidden attributes in all skills you learn. So you can never say that simply focusing on some of them would be better."

Everyone nodded understanding.

"Oh I just remembered we haven't been introduced yet." Sneha suddenly added.

Everyone looked at each other and then laughed.

"Yeah...well I am Christopher. I am a 3rd year in the virtual reality department. I know Swamy already!"

"Oh then you are our senior then..." as the rest introduced themselves.

"Alright then, I need to go. Oh hey, when we do make a guild, why don't you guys join us."

"Hmm....sorry but we already have friends we want to make a guild with. We usually make a guild with them!" Manish replied.

"Yeah. We already kinda wanted to join their guild, so sorry but we will have to pass as well!" replied Sneha.

"Hmm its ok. Swamy, see you later then. Will text you the details! Later guys!"

As Christopher left, the talk suddenly erupted about all the new things they had found. People were eagerly waiting to see what kind of blessings they would get. Just then Sneha exclaimed,

"AH! But what about Rajan! He already crossed one npc. You don't think like there are blessings, there are curses as well? Maybe he will be cursed!"

Hearing that, all of them started laughing. Even Swamy. Rajan grimaced.

It was much later that Swamy thought Sneha might have a point. If there are blessings when you have positive familiarity, what happens when you have negative familiarity. Also, he was too embarrassed to ask how the blessings were given to Christopher and the others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raka opened his eyes to a strange sight. What he hoped to see was a lot of dead bodies of rabbits and wolves. What he saw, however, were lots of snails. These are called Acid-piss Snails if he remembered correctly. Size, think of something between a large dog and a bear. These were called acid-piss snails because they pissed acid, literally. And then,

%

Dying penalties are applied.

%

The message reminded him that he had died. Checking his stats quickly, he found that he had lost 1 point in each stat. And almost 10% in every skill. Dying was expensive.

It was a strange view, looking at lots of large snails moving really slowly across the battlefield of the days before. He observed a couple of them still finishing off the bodies of the animals around. Yep, they were eating the dead bodies.

'Maybe they eat dead things. But I have got bigger problems.' His problem was that he had logged in smack dab in the middle of them. Surrounded by the many snails, he did not want to start fighting the moment he logged in.

Fortunately for him, they did not seem interested in living things, like Raka. Slowly moving, they completely ignored Raka and only went for the few dead bodies which remained. Considering it would have been 3 days in the game, the snails had eaten every dead body around. 'Well if they are not interested in me, I am not interested in them.' Raka headed back towards the road.

But as he was in the middle of them, he had to walk avoiding these snails. Once, he approached just a little closer then he would have liked. The snail released a colored gas from somewhere. Raka quickly stepped back on reflex. However,

% You have been affected by Paralysis posion. Movement speed reduced by 20%. Effect lasts 30 minutes. %

The little bit he had inhaled had caused him to lose 20% speed. 'If I inhaled more...' he stopped thinking about it. He walked more carefully now, even waiting for them to make a gap in their number which kinda took a long time considering how slow they were. But Raka persisted. He remembered Neona explaining about all the animals found in this region. 'Acid-piss snails are one of the most passive animals around. They did not attack unless they feel any danger. As long as you stay away from them, they don't bother you.'

And so quite a while later, Raka reached the road. Just then,

%

Satiety reduced to 10%. You are very hungry.

Till Satiety is recovered movement speed reduces by 20%. If Satiety reduces further, more negative effects will be applied.

%

It looked like spawning afresh did not fill his satiety to full either. Raka quickly pulled out some of the pies, he had packed before hand for the journey and ate them. He did not have a lot, so sooner or later he will have to start hunting. Now if only he could figure out a way to hunt without invoking the bloodlust.

'The way I figure, its the blood which causes bloodlust. So if I can just knock them or somehow bring them on the road and then kill them....' and Raka started thinking about his next move.

A little while later, he stood and started preparing. First he decided that he needed some food to augment his supply. It wouldn't do, to be caught unprepared and hungry. Pies can be sliced and stored separately so it can be used as emergency rations, the slices quickly consumed. He should avoid eating those, which meant he needed to secure another food supply.

Making a plan in his head, he embedded his staff with wind magic.

"Skill description, Dance of the Fighter"

%

Skill Dance of the Fighter (Beginner lvl 2: 4%) : A type of dance which also hides a martial discipline. Allows increased damage, Life and Mana recovery when it is performed, to a limit. Can apply only in combat. Level increases effect to 2% increased damage, 2% Life recovery, 2% Mana recovery. Effects can be stacked to a total of 50%. The steps of this dance have not been learned completely.

%

'Hmm..so this thing is still incomplete. I guess Lady Verina would know the rest...its her moves I am copying after all! But atleast the effects are useful.'

He stepped back into the forest. Soon he found a horned rabbit. He quickly aimed before it could notice him and attacked. A wave of wind blew as he swung his staff down, headed straight for the rabbit. Raka turned around and ran towards the road, without looking behind.

Raka expected that the wind was not strong or sharp enough to cause blood to come out. But it would be perfect to unbalance it for a while and eventually attract its attention. Soon he heard the rustling of grasses and leaves as the rabbit used its incredible speed to chase after him. Raka speeded up. If you simply compared speed, he knew he would never reach the road in time. But, he had a plan. Over time he had improved his control just enough to allow him two uses of his wind slash.

Raka turned around and quickly swung his staff one more time. The rabbit was taken by the wind and thrown back. It landed on its feet, however, and began its chase again. On the other hand, Raka had started running the moment the wind blew.

Soon, he made the road. Raka smiled looking at the bounding rabbit chasing after him.

'Lunch!'

After quickly finishing off the rabbit, he waited to see if the bloodlust effect would take place. It didn't as he expected. He had figured that the animals try to avoid the road and stick to the forest.

Taking the rabbit apart, he quickly separated the skin and the meat from the bones. He washed the meat, skin and bones with water from his canteen. He stored the skin and bones, while he started a small fire with a little help from magic and started cooking the meat. 'Could make some money selling these.' As he got used to magic, it was becoming simpler to control it. It was just like knowing how much strength to apply to move a bike . Too much and it will bang ahead, too little and it won't move. Once you figure out the right amount, it became far simpler to handle it. His low mana was still a problem. Embedding could not be done in between a fight as he was still slow so running out of mana, though not much significant right now, could pose to be a far larger problem in the future.

And ofcourse, he had another problem of not being able to see the Life of the animals. In a one on one fight, he could handle them just fine. But he had realized that in a group fight, when he was fighting many to one, not knowing how much life they had left could be very troublesome. Managing his mana to fight becomes an issue. Ideally, he would start with a magically enhanced attack greatly reducing their life, and then switch to normal attacks to finish them off. If his life was in danger he would switch back to magical attacks to hit them harder. But being surrounded by many creatures, many of them injured and his life always in the red zone, he could not judge when he should use mana and when he could finish them off with just normal attacks. This was one of the reasons he had run out of mana the last time. Even after he got the dance of the fighter skill, he could not use his recovered mana.

Raka sighed. He had much to improve before he becomes any good at fighting. The meat roasted, he sat down to have his lunch.

%

Stamina and Endurance increase by 12 for 1 hour.

Satiety increases 50%. Satiety is now full.

%

Raka gulped down some water from his canteen. After he had his fill...he got up and stretched. It was time for the real fight to begin and he walked, again to the forest.

This time the fight went a little easier. Knowing what will happen, he preserved his life from the get go. His body remembered the movements of the animals and the dance of the fighter skill allowed him to restore his life and mana by dodging. In fact his life reached red only after the bloodlust reached 100% this time. The increased stats came to his help and increased his effectiveness even more.

"Hahaha...I have been taught by two monsters...You guys are just undisciplined brats in comparison!" he quipped as he smashed them all around.

The fight finished with him still retaining a bit of his life. He had gotten a couple of bleed effects, but as soon as he got out of combat status, his life and mana started getting restored. Bleed effects were temporary as he found out, but lasted a long time just like the paralysis poison. If the bleed had been more than his recovery skill however, it wouldn't have been cured like last time. His life and mana recovered, he started demolishing the animals around him. Skin, meat and even bones were neatly stacked in his bag. He could feel his bag becoming just a little heavier. 'About a kilo heavier than before', he estimated. Though it was not a cause for alarm as it was still quite light.

'I gained only 1 strength and agility point this time. Hmmm...also the blessing effect only gave me +2 to all stats. Maybe, because I have got used to them it has been reduced.' And so thinking about the complexity of the blessings system, Raka walked back to the road.