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

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With the arrival of people from the capital, the villagers of Fellon celebrated. Not only had the Queen ordered compensation but also free rebuilding of their boats and houses. For the fishermen that meant a great deal. However, whether the Queen was so generous or rather was just helping her father indirectly, was still in doubt.

In any case, it was certain that not many people knew about the relationship between Guran and Queen Katrina. Otherwise wouldn't he be considered a noble or a person of importance? Rather it would not be unusual for people to call him 'Lord' or something like that. But as far as Raka had seen, there was nothing like that. Ofcourse, he was considering things like it happened in real life history. This was the Ilmentia in the game of Long Island. Who knew how it worked in here!

"Guran, you are the father of the Queen?" Raka still had a few doubts.

"Yes, don't I look like I can have a daughter?" Guran sounded amused.

"Ah no...not that! It's just that...shouldn't you have become a noble or someone of importance? You are the Queen's father you know!" Raka said.

"Hahahahah.....A noble...me! Well, even if I could, I wouldn't want to. I like my free life." Guran smirked.

"What do you mean by if you could?" Raka asked.

"Ah..that was funny. You may not know this but even if you are a relative of the Queen, you cannot become a noble. Oh, she could give me an important post but a noble! Would the noble houses really allow that?! Even now, they don't like commoners as rulers! Those snobby farts only follow because this was a law made by the Oracle and they dare not offend her!" Guran grumbled.

"Oracle? Guran, do you know who or what the Oracle is?" Raka asked immediately.

"Ah I don't. I only ever heard Katrina talk about it when she became Queen. From what I heard, she is a very ancient person...very old...very powerful. Considering that she was the one who made the law, you can guess how old she is. Apart from that, I don't know. Rather, I am not interested. Learn this by heart lad. You do not want to know about people way powerful than you. Otherwise you will never get a good night's sleep." Guran advised.

While Guran went ahead to talk to the leader of the men who came, Raka thought to himself. 'Very old? How can she be this old? Is she even human then?' But then how could she be so old?

'Ah well, some things will become clear in time. No point thinking about it!'

"Raka, come here for a bit." Guran's voice reached his ears.

Raka lifted his head and approached Guran, who was discussing things with the leader, who turned out to be a guard captain.

"Raka, could you show me the designs to your house? If we are going to build everyone's houses, it's better to make them a bit stronger. I am thinkin' we could make it like your house, with some changes." Guran said.

"Sure. Though would the other's agree?"

"I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to not agree. Hahaha..." Guran smirked.

And just like that, with no quests and no money paid, Raka became the chief designer for the village. With some changes.

It was going to be long and hard work, as many houses had been trashed completely and needed to built anew. Even Raka's and Guran's houses, the only two survivors, had been stripped down to their foundations to be checked for damages. They were also being rebuilt. Raka had taken around 2 weeks in game time to build his own house. But with lots of people present, this speed went way up. They were building a house every 2-3 days. In fact, Raka could only work 1 of those 3 days, owing to his real life. But as he was the chief designer, his work was quite limited. Not to mention, most people wanted to customize their houses their own way, so Raka's role got a little more diminished.

But Raka didn't care about that. Honestly, he would have been just as glad, if they didn't give him a house at all. Cause what he was truly interested in were the ships. The shipwrights built the fishing ships according to a standard model it seemed. They did change it according to people's requests but the major part of the ship/boat, that is the hull, was the same.

Raka couldn't have that. He wanted a larger one for himself. And most importantly he wanted a ship to sail the seas. Fishing boats are ocean going vessels. But by its nature, they are not designed for long journeys. For example, their cargo area is smaller so they cannot store much supplies for these journeys. Also it is not covered to protect from rain. Most of their work is catching fish and bringing them home after all. Their operating range does not need to be too big.

Raka decided to request his ship to be built different from the others. But how could life be so simple as that.

'Oh no! It's Salmon! Have all the shipwrights in the capital died and made Salmon their chief or something!' Raka sighed.

"Salmon, long time no see. How have you been?" Raka cheerfully approached.

"Hmmm...who are you?" Salmon asked.

"Ah you kidder...aren't I the one who worked for you before?" Raka said.

"Oh..so you're the pipsqueak who left my employ for bountiful pastures, or what did you call it, better work conditions?" Salmon quipped.

"Well, that was the past and this is the future you know. Anyways you are building ships right? I am willing to help for free, so please build my ship a little different. Please." Raka said.

"Oh...and why do I want a useless person like you working for me, even for free! Hmph! Why don't ya build your own ship, will ya...Now don't bother me. I am overworked as it is."

'Typical Salmon! Oh well, I have other measures too.'

But these measures would have to wait for a bit. Everyone was just too busy. The shipwrights were even more busy. A house could be built in 2-3 days but building ships required people with skill. Just 10 shipwrights could only manage to build a small boat in that time and a fishing ship required almost a week. The villagers were skillful, but they were also few. Most of the guards who came were like unskilled labourers. The could work well under direction and they were strong but building ships was out of their league.

Raka observed the buildings being put up and gave some opinions here and there but most of villagers were too capable. With just the design, they could understand a lot. So he mostly watched the shipwrights work. Even looking is learning as they say.

The work went on for a long time. Almost a week passed in real life, three weeks in game. For Raka, it felt that everything was done too fast. All the houses were ready and people started to move in them. Like it was ordained that it would finish this day, merchants arrived selling all sorts of stuff. In short, the people settled in their new homes quite comfortably.

The storm had almost become a memory.

But the ships were still being built. In the time, only 3 ships had been built alongwith some 4 boats. Oh you may ask, why people kept boats if they had ships? It is because not all fishing ships were moored near the shore. There were two reasons for it. One, it would occupy too much space on the beach. And two, the bottom of the boat would be constantly scratched by the sand and gravel in the low draft. It is made of wood after all. It was a common practice to actually anchor a ship in slightly deep water and then tie it up with ropes. This was also a reason why docks had piers and jetties which extended out to sea. But there was no dock in Fellon village, so this method was in use. The same was also used in real life as Raka had found out.

In fact, except for repairs and loading/unloading, most ships, big or small, were not brought upon the shore if it could be helped. So the boats were needed.

And looking at this slow progress, Raka could only sigh in impatience.

'Oh come on...hurry up!'

Time passed, crawling like a snail. Raka resumed his practice again, in his newly refurbished home. This time he had added a few conveniences like a bath and toilet. Do not ask what happened before! Hopefully it never happens again. Oh, and if he already did that much, there was no point not having a bed either. Or some wardrobes. So he bought those too. Did it add anything?

Wardrobes are storage spaces but they don't add onto the player's 'Bag'. They are independent. Actually, there was no ownership of them either, not that ownership meant security. Raka's house could be infiltrated by just about anyone without his permission. 'How did that banning someone magic work again?' Perhaps he needed to work on making a lock.

'Maybe the banning thing can only be done by npc's?' Though Raka doubted that.

'What kind of magic did Lady Altia use then?' Raka wondered about how she used her house as a storage space. And it seemed to be some sort of magic. An advanced magic even, as normal Fellon villagers did not seem to be able to use it.

The bed which Raka had bought did not have any options. 'Maybe, if I had made it myself...' But he was not really inclined in making such things. He wasn't even going to use them. Rather he spent his time trying to increase his Perception stat.

When he got bored with sitting, he would go to the backyard and work on his basic forms. Raka had also made a dummy, like he saw in the battle school to practice hitting. And some heavy stones became weights for him to exercise. When he got bored with that, he went hunting.

Increasing the Perception stat was slowly becoming difficult. The reason was that he had run out of things to do. How many things can you do in a world full of colors with nothing in it?

'Oh...there is also up and down...' Raka suddenly realized. Perception had range and detail. Raka knew his range would improve before his detail, initially. He could sense everything from the start of the village to almost the beach, with him as the center. But there was also up and down. After all, perception should be a 3 dimensional thing, right?

But how do you go up or down? It was like standing on a road wondering what was above in the sky and below the ground!

'Is it simply based on my imagination? But I use my legs to get from one point to another in this world? Should I imagine stairs? Or should I imagine flying or burrowing?' Various ideas popped into his head. He started trying each of them one by one. At first, he failed. But soon things started working. In fact, all his ideas eventually worked.

'So my movement is also based on my imagination...' Raka delved deep into the ground. Correction, he delved deep into the thick mass of colors below him. As soon as he dived, the mass of colors thickened like blanketing him over. It was so thick that if he lost focus for a second, he wouldn't be able to tell which direction was up. Like the entire world had shifted instead of him. Like that classic movie 'Inception'.

Soon he started feeling fuzzy.

'Not good...' Raka immediately started making his way back up. Soon, the colors thinned down again and he found the now familiar energy forms of the roof and the room.

'That was scary..' Again it was the lack of reference. Without gravity or seeing things standing upright, how do you say which way was up! Like that carton box which does not have the 'this way up' sign. This lack of reference actually plays tricks with the mind. Even if he managed to delve deeper, he wouldn't know if he was going down or just going in circles.

'Next, let's try flying up.' Raka immediately imagined himself flying up like a plane. Soon, he passed above the roof of his house and soared up. Maybe because the air was a rarer energy medium but the colors did not thicken. The perception of nearby objects, probably trees, faded as as he continued to rise higher and higher.

Suddenly, Raka felt ripples. Ripples usually meant that something is disturbing the colors, usually some sort of movement. A vague, colorful figure passed causing ripples to flow in all directions. It was quite some time after that the ripples settled down.

'Birds?' Raka surmised.

Raka opened his eyes and laughed.

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Perception increases by 5.

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'5 whole points!' Raka was excited. It seems his reasoning about the Perception stat was a bit wrong. It was not only due to the things he did. It was also due to the things that he discovered he could do. 'Understanding...that's it! It increases with one's understanding about their energy perception.'

Ah, but even with so many increased stat points, he still could not do free magic. 'Am I doing something wrong? According to my research, this stat should allow me to do free magic.' But so far he had nothing. In fact, he had less than nothing. Right now, he did not even have a clue on how to do free magic! Even if he increased his Perception stat, how will he enter the colorful world without closing his eyes?

'Is it a problem with my imagination again?' Raka suspected. But right now, he did not understand exactly what was the problem, let alone find a solution. He closed his eyes and continued with his practice.

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Lunch break in college. For many days, Swamy has had this blank look as he stared at the skies.

"Hey Swamy, what's up pal? You seem to be lost in thought for some days now...." Manish asked.

"Yeah...even I have to make my own notes now...come on, if you have a problem talk to this brother. I will solve all your problems...then go back and start taking notes or Sneha's going to fail." Rajan quipped.

"Hey! That's you not me!" Sneha yelled.

"Hmm...I know. He must have got his heart broken!" Himali said delightedly.

That got Swamy's attention.

"Haha...nothing like that. It's just like I don't feel like studying much these days." Swamy replied.

"Oh...definite symptoms of being in loo~ve!" Himali said.

"No no...s..seriously..it's nothing like that! Oh yes...I am thinking of building my boat. That's what I was thinking!" Swamy said.

"Boat? Swamy! You wanna build a boat? Thinking of a major change are you?" Sneha asked.

"Not that...he must be talking about Long Island?" Himali replied.

"Yes. I was talking about Long Island." Swamy simply said.

"Oh, and how are you going to do that? It costs so much money to buy a ship. I doubt the materials would be too cheap? Also do you know how to build one?" Himali pointed out.

"Well....somehow I can get the materials. But it's true that I don't know how to make one. This is why I was thinking. Hiring people costs too much money...wondering if I cannot blackmail them.." Swamy said with a sigh.

The people froze.

"Blackmail, Swamy! Awesome!" Sneha chirped.

"Hahahahah.....too good! Swamy, I bless you! You will definitely succeed!" Rajan laughed.

"Hahahahahah....." Manish roared.

"Dark....too dark! I need to be careful of you Swamy!" Himali quipped.

"....."

"Hey, Himali. Did you finally find a way to join the Queen's trip?" Sneha asked.

"Not yet. I have got feelers out though." Himali replied.

"Hmm...actually, even we have started to ask around to see if we can also join in. Our King should also be attending, right!" Sneha added.

Sneha turned around to look at Rajan who was still staring at the cellphone.

"Rajan, what's up?" Sneha asked.

Rajan let the suspense build for a little more and then..

"Raka has posted a video. It's shocked the forums..." Rajan said.

"Oh, is it another quest?" Everyone was interested.

"I don't know. It is too short, like only 15 seconds, and only shows the appearance of single sea monster. There are no descriptions included so people do not know where it is or what." Rajan mysteriously added.

Everyone quickly pulled up their cellphones to look.

"AH! What is this!" Sneha said.

"Is this real? This is not doctored right?" Himali said.

"Well, this is why I like playing the game! Haha...Oh we definitely need to get to the sea asap!" Manish grinned.

Swamy also looked. 'Hmm...half a million views again.' That was like the whole player base and he had just posted it this morning!

"Oh there is one other thing..." Rajan said.

"What is it?" Swamy asked.

"There is this post, but it got buried under Raka's post. This one is about the death penalty. It says that everytime you die, you lose 1 stat point in all stats. If you have more stats, then you lose more as well." Rajan said.

""Oh..."" Himali and Swamy immediately understood.

""What?"" Manish and Sneha asked in confusion.

"Sneha, what stats do you have right now?" Himali asked.

"I have Strength, Agility, Vitality, Focus and Perception...And Endurance and Stamina." Sneha thought.

"You have 7 stats, so when you die you will lose 7 stat points, one in each stat. How much do you have in Endurance?" Himali explained.

"Oh...I understand. I only have 9 points in it cause I died once already." Understanding dawned on everyone's faces as they turned dark. Dying did not only penalize the stat points, rather the more stats you had the more got deducted. Also losing points in stats having low points in the first place, was extremely painful.

"This game does not like death." Rajan's voice loomed for a long time.

*****Authors Note:- I may have made some mistakes in my stat tables. I will correct them eventually, but this is the rule I am going to follow for dying penalties.

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Raka's video of the Sea God gathered a lot of attention, but eventually it contained no information except that it was shot in the sea. Lots of players aimed to head out to the sea by any means possible. It had started a new race. The second to sail the seas. The first had already been taken by Raka. But even he had not travelled to another island or discovered a new race. Many future guilds were now contending for this spot. If they achieved such a feat, many players would join them and in the future they would be one of the major guilds in the game. What was the saying...a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind...or something like that.

But the interest in the video itself passed over. And then the information about the death penalty was highlighted like coming out from a dark cave. Everyone had died once or twice atleast. Most of them had thought little of the stat points they lost. They were sad, but they didn't think much about it. Let alone discuss it with other people. But now, they understood. The more stats they had, the more they had to lose. At this point in time, not many people had extra stats. Most had them had the same general stats as Sneha.

There were still who had. Like Raka. He even had stats with just 1 point in them. Not to mention, no one had found out ways to increase Vitality. If it kept decreasing...people could only shudder.

'Well what happens, happens. If you could not risk it all in a game, where could you!' Raka put the thought out of his mind.

By now, most of the ships had been built. Except for Raka's.

'Time to put my play into action.'