A bright light blinded Kit causing him to close his eyes. When he opened them, he was standing in the middle of a stone arch covered with strange symbols. The symbols reminded him of hieroglyphics, he had no clue what any of them meant. He ran his hand over the stone and could feel the rough texture.

He looked around his current location and realised he was on the edge of a quaint little village, with a similar style of building to the medieval age. Behind him was a wide expanse of meadows, the long grass was waving from the slight breeze. He could feel the gentle wind against his skin. The smell of crisp fresh air was brought to his nose from the wind.

Kit was amazed at how lifelike the game was. He felt like he was on the edge of a small medieval village in real life. The buildings were constructed with timber frames and the walls were made with twigs and mud, the roofing was thatched. The streets were narrow and made from dirt compressed from repeated use.

The streets had a scattering of people going about their business. Noise flowed towards him from the small village. Kit stood in place for a while, waiting for a prompt from CAL, he had no clue what he should be doing. After what seemed like five minutes, no information was given, he was starting to worry he had done something wrong.

‘I should head towards the centre of town, hopefully I will find someone to help me understand what I should be doing.’

Kit headed towards the street in front of him, as he approached, he saw the building closest to him was a stable. Soft neighs from the horses could be heard and an unpleasant smell assaulted his nose. Kit wrinkled his nose in response to the strong smell.

‘Manure, why would anyone want to smell that in game. I guess that fact is why some people call this an alternate reality, instead of a game.’

As he walked down the road, he passed people on the street, he was unable to tell who a player was and who was an NPC. Faces were animated in conversation, laughter could be heard. People were dressed in clothing of all colours, just like real life.

‘This is fantastic they look so real, and the conversations I hear are just like normal people, how on earth will I be able to tell player from NPC.’

Kit was listening to the couple walking just ahead of him as he strolled further into the town.

“We need to get some bread, Albert. ALBERT, are you listening to me” The older woman cuffed poor Albert across the head with her hand.

“You dammed deaf old man, we need bread.”

“Sorry love, I was listening I promise. I’ll get the bread.” Albert hurried away to, presumably, get the bread.

Kit had a little chuckle at their interactions. He had watched many online channels about CAL, and he still was surprised at the realism of NPC’s. He guessed that those two were NPC’s he could not envision players behaving like that, but he could be wrong.

Since CAL had taken off, it was not just a game for young people. People of all ages graced the game to enjoy the extra time benefits of CAL. He knew of some old classmates that would play so they could extend their studying time. He had tried to gain his mother’s support to play once by trying the same approach, it was shot down instantly.

Up ahead Kit could finally see what looked like the town square. It was a large open area its focal point was a larger circular fountain with a statue of a fish spurting water from its mouth. The fish was a green-blue colour, its scales sparkled with a silver shimmer. Water vapor was glistening around the fountain giving the impression the fish was alive.

To the left of the fountain, there was a tall eye-catching young man. His good looks were not the reason he stood out to Kit though. He was wearing a bright red shirt with a collar full of brown and yellow feathers. Black shiny leather pants adorned his legs, bright red boots with a golden trim were on his large feet. On top of his head was a red tricorn hat, with a hot pink feather as a finishing touch.

Kit could not hold the laughter escaping from his mouth.

‘This guy looks like a giant rooster that wants to be a pirate, all he needs is an eye patch. I bet this is an NPC, no one would be caught dead in that outfit otherwise.’

Kit approached the man with laughter still in his eyes.

“Excuse me I’ve just arrived in town, do you know of anyone needing assistance.” This was the basic line he had learned from watching video streams.

The giant rooster gave Kit a weird look, he then started to laugh. It was not a small laugh, the young man was holding his stomach doubled over. His shoulders were shaking, and Kit even saw a bit of spit fly from his mouth.

“Oh, that’s a good one, you thought I was an NPC.” The man continued to laugh.

‘That was not that funny right? Even if I did mistake him for an NPC, this is an overreaction.’ Kit decided to wait for the giant rooster to calm down.

‘At least he is a player, hopefully he can help me find a starter quest.’

The young man finally calmed down, his face still held a tinge of red from his exertion from laughing. “I apologise, this was my first time being mistaken for an NPC. Did you just get here?”

“Yes, I came from the arch outside of town not long ago. I’m a little unsure of what I need to do. Can you give me any advice?”

“No problem, I’m Mars by the way. See that short fat man over there, he is the town mayor, he will offer you a quest. You can also get one from the grocer on the other side of the fountain.”

“Thank you, Mars, I’m Kit. Nice to meet you.” Kit gave what he thought was a friendly smile. It must have been ok, because Mars returned the gesture.

‘Right, I forgot all about having to interact with people in game. I can just use my professional persona I have for work, when I must make small talk.’

“Good luck with the quest, if you need help just ask me.”

“Thank you, I should be right with a starter quest though.” Kit said his goodbyes, and headed over to the mayor.

The mayor was a middle-aged man with a shiny bald head, the glare from the sun reflected off his sweaty head. His stomach protruded over his pants, letting one know he was well fed. The portly man called out to Kit as he approached.

“You there, come quick, I have a job for you.”

‘Even if Mars had not told me about this person I would have been waved down. Good to know I won’t have to hunt for quests all the time, NPCs can approach me too.’ Kit hurried over to the mayor.

“Can I help you?”

“I need you to get me a rabbit, my wife wants rabbit stew. I have no time to go hunting though, I have village business, and a mayor is always busy. If you bring me rabbit meat, I will give you 50 bronze crowns.”

“Ok, I will help.”

“Good Lad, if you head out the north gate of the village you will enter a meadow where the rabbits forage. Make sure you bring one to me before dinner time. Here, take this knife to help with the rabbits, just ask around for Mayor Meadow when you return.”

Ding!

[CAL]

Quest accepted.

Mayor meadows request, common.

Bring the mayor rabbit meat before dinner time.

Acquired: rusty knife.

A message appeared in front of Kit, the chime that accompanied the message gave him a little fright.

The mayor smiled at Kit, pointed to the north exit which was where he had started from and turned around to talk to another villager. Kit turned and walked towards the north exit of the village.

‘My first quest, this is so exciting, hopefully the rabbits are easy to find.’

Kit looked down at the knife he had received from the mayor. It looked old and worn, the blade looked dull, it had small chips on the edge of the short blade. The wooden handle looked like it would fall apart if handled to roughly, there were large cracks down the grip.

[Weapon: Rusty Knife, common.]

Level 0

Attack +1

While Kit was looking at the knife information, he realised he hadn’t looked at the player menu yet. He tried to change his focus from the knife to the player menu.

‘There is nothing to look at so how I focus on the menu options. CAL told me to say it out loud in the login process, so I should try that, maybe?’

“Open menu.”

A menu appeared in front of Kit, it was the same transparent menu that Kit saw when he was with CAL. It soon started to solidify, blocking out the scenery around him. The same beautiful black handwriting could be seen on the menu.

The menu was split into 2 tabs attributes and inventory. Kit looked at his attributes first.

Kit

Level: 0

Health:100/100

Attack + 3

Class: Swordsman

Stamina: 10/10

Speed +2

Sub class:

Magica: 20/20

Intelligence + 4

Money: 0

Experience: 0/100

Agility + 3

Free Points: 0

Weapon: Rusty knife

Defence + 1

He then investigated his Inventory. There was 10 slots, currently he had two slots filled. On inspection, he had 5 loaves of bread and 5 bottles of water. He saw the stats of the items, this made him curious how healing would work in the game. Was it instant or gradual, would he feel it, this thought made him a little excited to try it out.

5x [Bread] regenerates 10 health every 2 seconds for 30 seconds [10days]

5x [Spring Water] restores 100 health [unlimited]

‘These will definitely be helpful. Though I wish the bread had a longer shelf life, well I’m assuming that’s what 10 days means.’

After closing the menu, Kit walked to the edge of the village and a meadow came into view, it was filled with long green grass about waist height. Various plants could be seen speckled with colour scattered throughout. The faint dirty smell of the town was gone, and a fresh smell of grass tickled his nose.

Kit decided to look around and see if he could find any signs of rabbits, and what he could use to lure one into a trap. He had to watch his step, the ground would occasionally have hole masked by the long grass. Kit did not want to have an embarrassing accident by falling over.

‘Kat would never let me live it down if I received my first lot of damage from twisting my ankle because I fell over.’ Kit shuddered at the thought.

After walking a short while through the long grass, he heard a rustling sound to his left. As he was turning to look, he felt a huge weight collide into the side of him. Kit stumbled back a few steps from the force.

- 10 damage

‘What the piping hot potatoes was that!’

As Kit tried to regain his footing he was slammed into again, this time he fell to the ground. He felt something bite his leg. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before, he thought a chunk was going to be removed from his leg.

He could feel the teeth tearing his skin as they sunk into his body. Intense pain radiated out from the entry point. Kit felt like he would pass out, sweat started to bead on his forehead.

‘Son of a pumpkin! Do I look like a giant popsicle?’

This was worse than when he once accidentally cut himself with a knife, while making dinner, and had to go to the hospital to receive five stitches.

‘Flying fruits! Who puts pain in a game, what kind of person thinks “Oh, we should add pain” they definitely have a screw loose.’

- 12 damage

- 10 damage

- 15 damage

Kit looked down at his leg, and what he saw could only be described as a rabbit on steroids. It was the size of a large dog, had rippling muscles, large sharp front teeth that were buried in his leg. It was currently growling at him like a dog. Kit could see his blood gushing from his leg, a metallic smell hit the air.

‘If this overgrown rabbit continues, I’ll be dead.’

Kit could see two bars, one for himself showed his health and the same one for the rabbit. His health was currently at 47/100, if he did not do anything he would die.

‘That is not a rabbit, it has muscles on top of muscles, does it lift weights? Kat would have a field day teasing me if she learned I died just after starting the game.’ Kit kicked the rabbit in the head dislodging it from his leg, he felt a sharp rip.

- 10 damage

“What the hell, did you just take a chunk out of my leg? You’re supposed to be an herbivore, not a carnivore.”

Kit was still holding the rusty knife, he slashed towards the rabbit. ‘Come here giant rabbit, I want to learn how to make rabbit stew.’

- 3 damage

Kit pushed himself up to a sitting position with one hand and slashed about wildly. Swinging the knife from side to side repeatedly with the hand holding the knife.

‘Is this right, how the hell do you attack with a knife, I thought the game would automatically guide me, do I need to take lessons?’

- 3 damage

- 3 damage

- 3 damage

The rabbit backed away and stared at Kit warily. Kit’s adrenalin was in overdrive, his heart was beating wildly, and a slight tremor could be seen in his hand holding the knife.

“Now you’re scared, run little rabbit run.”

Ding.

[Skill learnt: fearful slash]

Player slashes wildly fearing for his life, no talent needed.

Adds 2 attack to every attack with a blade.

Kit put pressure on his wound with his empty hand. Pain exploded, his head felt light, blood oozed around his hand.

The rabbit did not run off, Kit had to finish it off quickly or he would be dead from the loss of blood. He was losing one health every second. He glanced at the rabbit’s remaining health, it had 38 health left. Kit felt desperate he decided to lunge forwards to finish the rabbit off. He slashed wildly, the rabbit jumped backwards and avoided the slashing knife once again.

‘Damn it’s smart as well as a weightlifting junky. I would be happy with some of those muscles. Wait, why am I jealous of a rabbit’s muscles?’

The rabbit looked at Kit, then hopped away through the long grass.

Kit ended up flat on his face due to the failed lunge, he rolled over onto his back, opened his inventory and retrieved a piece of bread. He could not get the bread into his mouth fast enough. He tore off large chunks with his teeth and forced the dry bread down his throat. The pain slowly started to recede, he could feel the muscle and skin knitting back together. The sensation was not painful, it was hard to describe, because he had never felt this feeling before.

Now he was no longer in pain, Kit could taste the remaining piece of bread he had not stuffed into his face. The bread surprised him, it tasted just like a loaf of bread should taste. This was good news for his restaurant, if he could create something that tasted delicious, then people would not only eat his food for the stats, but also for the flavour.

‘I wonder if food rots here and if it tastes the same as real life?’

While Kit was recovering his health, thanks to the bread, he looked around the space he was lying in. There was a flower bush where the rabbit had first attacked from, the bush was missing half of its yellow flowers.

‘I must have disturbed it eating from the flowers.’

After consuming the bread Kit felt better, his health was back to full capacity. Kit rose from the ground to take a closer look at the flowers. As Kit got closer a name popped up on screen.

[Yellow bulbine]

Ding!

[Skill learnt: Identify Novice]

Player can identify common objects. This is a skill even five-year old’s have.

Intelligence + 2

‘Well, that was true, a five-year-old would have that skill. Weird for it to be on a description though. Pity it did not give me much information about the flower.’

The yellow flower was shaped like a star, it grew in a cluster on long thin green stems. Kit pulled a petal off the flower, it had a soft silky texture. He brought it to his nose and a sweet fragrant smell permeated from the petal.

If he wanted to find another rabbit, he should look for another one of these plants. Kit looked around for more yellow flowers, not far away he spotted another yellow plant.

Kit headed in that direction, as he started to walk he noticed all his pain had disappeared. He felt relieved knowing that if he recovered his health his body would fully recover as well.

As he walked, he felt a constant soft knocking against his leg. Kit glanced down to see his pant’s had a giant hole in them from the rabbit bitting his leg.

‘OMG, this game does not have to be this life like. Guess I’m going to need to start carrying a needle and thread with me from now on.’ Kit sighed there was nothing he could do about it now, so he continued towards the yellow flower.

Once Kit arrived at the yellow bulbine he realised he would need a plan. If he walked around aimlessly, he might get surprised once again. He decided to steal the rabbit’s plan, he was going to ambush his next target. Kit hid in-between the long grass to wait for a rabbit.

‘This could be a long wait, I need something to pass the time .‘

Kit pulled up his menu while waiting.

“Open menu.”

Two new tabs had appeared, skills and ingredients. Kit looked at the skills first, he did not get time to read the message when it was delivered when he was fighting, and he wanted to see what other skill he had received.

‘The tabs must be added when I unlock them, that’s handy so you don’t become overwhelmed with information at the start.’

[Skill learnt: fearful slash]

Player slashes wildly fearing for his life. No talent needed.

+ 2 Attack to every attack with a blade.

[Skill learnt: Identify Novice]

Player can identify common objects. This is a skill even five-year old’s have.

Intelligence + 2

‘Pfft, that is a terrible description, just like the earlier one. At least the developers have a sense of humour.’

After reading his new skills, Kit realised you could learn skills in game. He thought they were only available at a skill trainer or drops from monster kills. This could make the game easier or harder, depending on the criteria to learn a skill.

Kit opened the next tab, ingredients.

[Yellow bulbine]

There was no other information about the yellow bulbine. Kit closed the menu. As time passed, Kit developed a cramp in his leg, as he was about to stand up to stretch his leg he heard a thudding sound getting closer.

‘About time one of you showed up, next time I have a long wait I’ll to bring something to do.’

A rabbit appeared a few seconds later, Kit waited for the rabbit’s attention to be focused on eating before striking. Kit snuck up to the muscular rabbit using the long grass as cover, then jumped onto the rabbit’s back. He knocked it over with his momentum. Kit started slashing frantically at the rabbit.

‘YES, I got you! No human popsicle for you this time.’

- 5 damage

- 5 damage

- 5 damage

- 5 damage

- 5 damage

Kit kept slashing until all 50 health points disappeared from the rabbit’s bar.

Ding!

[Burly Rabbit Killed]

50 experience.

2x Burly rabbit meat.

‘WOOP, what wildly slashing, I was amazing. Muhahaha! Not only did I get experience from killing the rabbit, I should get some from completing the quest too.’

Kit continued to cackle like a villain from a movie.

Kit looked at the sky and realised the sun was still high, he could explore the meadow before the time ran out to hand in the rabbit meat. He decided he would collect some of the flowers in the meadow, starting with the yellow bulbine the rabbit had been fond of. Kit bent down and using his rusty knife sliced a stem of the bulbine.

Ding

[Skill learn: abysmal harvester]

Player has no skill with harvesting. Player can now say he has learnt how to do something, at least.

+ 2 Intelligence

+ 1 Agility

‘Wait, the theme I am getting from the descriptions seems oddly familiar. OMG is CAL mocking the players for poor skills? Haha! CAL has a great sense of humour, I wonder what the other skill descriptions will be?’

Kit continued to harvest more plants in the meadow. After a while he started to get hungry. He decided to head back to the village to hand in his quest and see if he could find something to eat.