Chapter 3

Several pretty uneventful hours later Mal was pretty sure he was lost. He hadn’t come across the old road that Emmet had spoken of but on the plus side he had several sonus herbs, tucked into the drawstring of his belt.

Congratulations! You have learned Herbalism level 1! The grass is always greener traveler!

Shit! I should have gotten better directions Mal thought to himself. Where was google maps when he needed it. With that thought he checked the forums of the main game hub with some hope of a map. To his chagrin the game world was still just being explored with not much making it onto the forums. The focus right now was on the crisis of not being able to logout and Mal didn’t need the unpleasant reminder that he was stuck in here. Though to be fair he thought, looking around at the vibrant forest, there were worst places to be stuck.

Sure that he could find some clue on the forums Mal poured through all the posts as he walked skimming as fast as he could. That was how he fell into the bear pit trap, by not paying attention. There were vines overgrowing the long abandoned trap and Mal slipped on the bank above the spike pit and slid down into the dense growth.

Mal gave a shout of alarm as he got tangled up in the vines and roots. Looking down he was suspended in mid air over the sharp stakes pointing up at him maliciously. Very carefully Mal crawled his way to the edge of the pit, going slow so he didn’t fall onto the spikes below. Several nerve wracking seconds later he was safely back on solid ground.

Mal caught his breath for a moment then took a closer look at the dangerous trap below him. He saw a bleached white skull staring up at him and he jumped like he was watching some horror movie. Then looking closer he saw it for what it was. Some poor sucker had died in the trap, there was a skeleton with a sharp stake piercing through his chest. And there was gear! Mal could see what looked like a real weapon and a pack down there.

Mal pulled some of the thick vines together and wove them together so he could slither down into the trap and still have a way out. Gently easing down into the pit Mal made his way down his makeshift rope. Reaching the bottom safely Mal pushed the sharp stakes out of his way as he made towards his windfall.

Looking through the remains of the old skeleton Mal was excited by all the loot he was finding.

Rusty Iron Longsword, damage 1-7, quality poor and damaged Rusty Iron Dagger, damage 1-3, quality poor and damaged Studded leather armor(full set), Defense +12, quality fine, slight damage Set bonus, +2 to agility Leather Backpack, quality fine Spoiled rations x4, waterskin(empty), small hooded lantern, flask of oil x3, compass, rope w grappling hook, flint & steel, 2 light healing potions, 1 stamina regen potion, Scroll of identify

- Ironbound Round Shield, +7 defense, quality average

Magic bracelet(unidentified) Light crossbow, damage 1-8, quality average Steel tipped bolts x17, damage +1 Magic ring(unidentified) Wedding ring, platinum Coin purse, 9 gold, 12 silver, 27 copper Diary(unknown language)

“Well hot damn.” Mal said to no one in particular. He strapped the gear on and cinched all the various belts to fit his size. The shield and longsword fit snugly on the his back over and under the backpack respectively. The dagger he hitched to his right side and the light crossbow went on his left hip so as to be closer to his dominant hand for a quick draw when needed. The crossbow was hanging from its sling but also clipped to his belt to prevent it from getting in the way. The coin pouch clipped to his belt as well with a sturdy chain to deter cutpurses.

He stowed the rest, except the spoiled food, and started to climb out of the pit to get a better look at the jewelry in the light. Mal managed to make it out slipping only once with his heart caught in his throat thinking of the spears below him. Once out he arrayed the diary, the scroll and the jewelry before him in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the canopy above him. Glancing up he could tell it was about midday. Plenty of time to get unlost, he thought with a chuckle, his mood was vastly improved.

Anyone who has found something hidden and of value knows what Mal was feeling in this moment.

First the newly outfitted human examined the ring more closely. He was getting the notification that it was magic and that it needed to be identified. Same with the bracelet when he examined that as well. Whelp he had one scroll of identify that he was pretty sure would only work on one of the two. Looking at the quality of the two magic items it appeared the bracelet was far more valuable just to his layman's eye. The metal was a mix of gold and platinum and there was a large dusky grey jewel in the center of it with flecks of light floating within. It reeked of magic while on the other hand the ring just looked like a normal ring with a plain sort of looking black stone in it.

Suddenly a quest notification popped up.

Return the diary and wedding ring to the kin of the dead traveller? Reward, unknown, Penalties, none, Do you accept, Yes or no?

Mal selected yes surprised by the hidden quest.

Turning back to the jewelry Mal knew not to judge a book by it’s cover but this seemed like a no-brainer. He checked the diary again for a clue but it was clearly another language he didn’t know. There were a few diagrams and maps painstakingly sketched into the diary but they shed no light on which of the magic items was more powerful.

Making his choice the starkissed man activated the scroll of identify by reading it and selecting “Yes, use scroll” when prompted. Then picking up the bracelet he examined it again and with a small flare of light he knew.

Bracelet of the Rock Golem, Grants control to one crafted Rock Golem when worn, quality, masterwork

What the hell? Mal glanced over to the large pile of rocks next to the pit. Was that pile of rocks a rock golem before this unfortunate skeleton fell into the bear trap. Only one way to find out so he snapped the bracelet firmly around his wrist.

Nothing happened.

Looking over at the pile of rocks holding his breath Mal didn’t detect any movement at all. He went over and poked one of the rocks gingerly with the toe of his new boot and then leaped back. Nothing. Maybe I gotta say a magic word or give a command he thought to himself.

“Arise golem!” he said forcefully.

Instantly the rubble began to shift and rumble. Stones rolled around of their own accord and there was a horrible grinding sound of rock on rock. Mal watched in awe as a shape slowly formed, a humanoid shape. With a groan of rock the figure climbed to its feet and kneeled in front of Mal.

“Wow, can you talk golem?” Mal asked uncertainly.

The golems blank rock face, blank as only a rock could be, just looked up at him. Little bit’s of rock swirled around it’s joints still finding their places in the larger puzzle.

“Uhh Stand up!” Mal tried. The golem stood to it’s full 4 foot height with much less noise this time.

“Huh, thought you’d be taller. You sure look sturdy though. Walk over there.” Mal pointed across the way. The golem promptly obeyed moving fairly quickly and quieter than you’d expect from a walking rock. Having an idea Mal tried another command.

“Attack that tree!” he pointed at a large sycamore. The golem leapt at the tree and began pummeling it with total abandon. Large chucks of wood starting flying everywhere, the tree wasn’t going to be standing long.

“Stop! Stop!” Mal shouted as the tree started to sway dangerously back and forth. The golem immediately stopped and turned to him awaiting his next command.

“Holy! I could get used to this. I have half a mind to head back to the Blood Forest and get myself a sabertooth tiger pelt!”

The golem stood there.

“Too bad you can’t talk, that’d be the icing on an epic cake. I’ll take it though. Follow me.” Mal said testing the golem. The golem walked up to a distance of 6 feet away from Mal and stopped. Mal moved a few feet away from the golem. The rock golem shadowed him moving the same distance.

“Excellent!” Mal stowed the rest of his items. He picked up the wood spear he had crafted and then tossed it at the golem underhanded. “Think fast!”

The spear bounced off the golem's chest and fell to the ground. The golem stood there.

“Well I guess I gotta be more specific.” Mal said with a rueful chuckle. “You need a name too huh bud. Hmmm. Sylvester! I dig it!” Mal laughed as he consulted his new found compass finding true north. He started humming ‘Eye of the Tiger’.

“Ok this way Sly, follow me.” Mal said with one last look around to make sure he had everything. He decided to leave the shoddily made half ass spear where it fell. Afterall he had a long sword now. Mal drew it quickly from over his shoulder several times practicing for when he would have need. He didn’t want to be fumbling for it. Taking some practice slashes at the surrounding foliage as they walked he was pleased to see branches sever with a vicious clean cut. Still had a decent edge he thought.

“I’m going to have to have a blacksmith look at this thing or get a whetstone in the future, eh Sly?” Mal called out to his silent traveling companion. He didn’t feel nearly as alone or vulnerable anymore with Sly marching along behind him.

The forest thinned out some with some flowery fields breaking up the constant trees. Mal saw several different herbs and other plants that he was quick to harvest with his herbalism skill.

Congratualtions! Your Herbalism skill has reached level 2, and level 3! The grass is always greener! Sonus, healing properties, could be used to brew potion of health Peacegrass, could be used to brew potion of speed Sunbloom, could be used to brew potion of mana

Mal saw other properties of the herbs but they were greyed out and he couldn’t read them. Guess I need higher herbalism or something to unlock that he thought. It was good to be collecting these things though because Mal saw he got a slight bump to his XP even though he didn’t get a prompt every time he leveled a skill.

The sun tracked through the sky as the two of them made their way north. Mal was starting to wonder how he could have missed the old road and if he should perhaps change directions. Maybe I should head to Clear Waters he thought, I could get a leather worker to patch up the hole in this leather armor and get a smith to look at this blade.

Just as Mal was about to change direction he came to another break in the trees and he came across a berry field. They looked like the size and color of strawberries but had a different odd almost hourglass shape. Mal was about to examine one and use his herbalism skill on it when he saw movement from the center of the field.

A reptilian face sat up and looked right at him. Kobold, Mal thought immediately recognizing the evil little thing from other games. It’s face was berry stained but the berry juice looked disturbingly like blood. The little thing tittered in it’s reptilian language and 3 other reptilian snouts popped up from their prone position. They had obviously been pigging out on the berries and the 4 humanoid reptiles scrambled to their feet and started charging at Mal, hissing nastily, ready to defend their prized berry field.

With a smooth fluid motion Mal grabbed his crossbow wishing he had practiced with it some before a moment like this. He took aim down the shaft at the nearest kobold and squeezed the trigger feeling the pressure of charging enemies make his heart hammer in his chest. The anxiety he used to get while hunting with his father for big game had nothing on this moment. Even though it was virtual and not real, the prospect of pain was real. Mal marshalled himself and kept his hands from shaking.

The bolt flew true piercing the lead kobold’s chest and it tumbled to the ground and didn’t get back up.

“Sly! Attack!” Mal shouted.

The kobolds hadn’t really noticed the short golem at first but they surely saw him now as Sly charged toward them and met them with a crash of stone on flesh. Of the remaining three, two had short spears, and one a dagger. Mal decided against reloading the crossbow since the combatants had gotten so close and drew his Iron Longsword with a distinct shiiing sound ringing out.

The kobold with the dagger skirted around Sly and attacked Mal lithely leaping at him and stabbing with his weapon. Mal kept his shield up between them and the crude weapon glanced harmlessly away. The kobold stabbed quickly again and again enraged that a human would trespass on their territory. Mal stood firm intercepting it all with his shield and he was briefly aware one of the other kobolds was dead having succumbed to Sly’s rock fists.

That left two.

Mal made a sudden backward step and the kobold attacking him, who was expecting the resistance of the shield, stumbled with sudden space between them. Just as Mal hoped. Then with a grunt of effort Mal swung his blade in a diagonal downward swipe. The Iron Longsword buried itself deep in the kobold’s upper body, shearing through the clavicle and into it’s chest.

Mal locked eyes with the kobold as the life fled from it.

Wrenching his blade free as the kobold collapsed Mal turned just in time to see Sly dealing with the last one. Clapping his hands together tightly, ignoring the feeble spear jabs, the last unfortunate enemy's head was in the path of the golem's hands. With a gruesome pop the kobolds head burst like a water balloon spraying brain matter everywhere.

Mal stood there for a second breathing fully taking in the scene of the battle and letting himself calm down from his battlelust. Glancing over at Sly, who stood there blankly staring up at him with brain matter all over his hands, Mal let loose a victory yell.

“Yeah!! Fucking nasty Sly! You goddamn popped his head.” Mal laughed, then was a little unnerved by how quickly and easy violence had become to him. But afterall it was just a game he thought right?

“Well two for me and two for you eh?” Mal said to the blank stone face. “Hold still Sly. I have a thought!” Mal approached the stone golem and unsheathed his dagger. On Sly’s forearm, where the bulky stones looked like giant muscles, Mal scratched two marks for Sly’s first kills.

“There, awesome. Let’s get many more of those, ok Sly?” Mal admired his handiwork. Then he noticed the flashing icon in the corner of his vision for all the prompts he had skipped during the fighting. “Ah. let’s see what we have here.” Mal said absently to Sly.

You have received 355XP(+55 Starkissed bonus) for killing Kobold level 2 You have received 355XP(+55 Starkissed bonus) for your construct killing Kobold level 2 You have received 465XP(+65 Starkissed bonus) for killing Kobold level 3 You have received 355XP(+55 Starkissed bonus) for your construct killing Kobold level 2

Excellent he earned experience for Sylvester's kills, good to know. “Good job Sly.” Mal patted his stone shoulder before diving back into the many more prompts.

Your construct has received 300XP for you killing Kobold level 2 Your construct has received 300XP for killing Kobold level 2 Your construct has received 400XP for you killing Kobold level 3 Your construct has received 300XP for killing Kobold level 2

Mal looked up in surprise. “You can earn XP Sly?” The golem just stood there. “Let me look at you.” Mal said looking closely at Sylvester pulling up his stats, something he should have already done he chided himself mentally.

Sylvester, level 1 Rock Golem Strength, 26 Dexterity, 11 Agility, 15 Constitution, 23 Endurance, 21 Intelligence, 3 Wisdom, 1 Charisma, 1 Skills, none Abilities, none HP, 230, MP, 30, EP, 210

“Well I’ll be damned, you're a strong little mofo aren’t ya Sly” Mal said looking around briefly to make sure no more kobold’s were creeping up. Mal went ahead and set Sly's XP gains to be hidden until he reached a level up. There were more prompts.

Rejoice! You have acquired enough experience to progress to level 3, you have 5 stat points to assign plus 3 additional for the Starkissed ability for a total of 16 (+8 from previous levels) May your journey continue adventurer! Congratulations! You have learned the skill Crossbow Proficiency! May your aim be true and your enemies dead! Congratulations! You have learned the skill Blocking! Who needs to dodge when you have a shield? Congratulations! You have learned the skill Swordsmanship! You only wish your name was Inigo Montoya! Engarde!

Mal was feeling particularly pleased with leveling up and decided to allocate his skill points. Rather than perhaps die in his next fight when these very stat points could mean the difference between victory and defeat. He pondered for a moment what to boost.

Well first things first and he put +4 into Constitution for more health, hopefully in a pinch it would keep him alive longer. Then +4 into Strength and a further +4 into dexterity to boost his damage with both melee and ranged attacks.

That was 12 spent, now what for the last 4, Mal looked over the remaining stats. He wanted to put points into intelligence and wisdom to boost his mana because he would like to eventually learn some spells. He was hoping to be a hybrid type character and he was sure that there was a class or job or specialization or even a role he could unlock later. No reason to think there wouldn’t be, every other similar non VR game worth its salt had those variations.

Mal put +2 in endurance to boost his stamina because he had noted when he was blocking the dead kobold’s dagger strikes his EP had dropped. Then +1 in agility for movement speed and +1 in charisma just because. He just couldn’t justify putting points into mana when he had no spells yet, he hoped he didn’t regret it later.

Mal pulled up his character sheet to see his totals.

Mal, human, level 3

Strength 19, effects melee combat Dexterity 19, effects ranged combat Agility 21+2 from gear, effects movement speed Constitution 19, effects total health points Endurance 23, effects total stamina Intelligence 15, effects total mana Wisdom 15, effects mana regeneration Charisma 21, effects interactions with others Skills, Stealth, lvl 2, Sneak attack, lvl 1, Fishing, lvl 3, Dagger Proficiency, lvl 1, Blunt Weapons, lvl 1, Skinning, lvl 1, Woodworking, lvl 1, Herbalism, lvl 3, Crossbow Proficiency, lvl 1, Blocking, lvl 1, Swordsmanship, lvl 1 Abilities, Starkissed HP, 190, MP, 150, EP, 230

Satisfied with his choices, Mal moved onto one of his favorite past times, going over the loot of his kills! He didn’t have high hopes of much coming from these Kobolds though it’s not like they were wearing jewel encrusted armor or anything. They had on dirty, nasty smelling, loin cloths he saw in disgust as he looked closer.

Two of the humanoids had coin purses with several copper pieces each so Mal quickly collected those. One had a grimey looking gemstone that Mal spit on and polished for a second but it looked pretty low quality still even after the spitshine. Mal moved onto their weapons and inspected them.

Next Mal picked up the dagger of the kobold he had killed with his longsword. Comparing it to his own dagger Mal saw it was in even worse shape than his rusty crude one so he stowed it in his pack. Maybe I’ll get a few copper for it when I make it to a trader. One of the spears had been snapped in half by Sly apparently and it only had a crappy stone point affixed to it anyway.

The other shortspear was intact and had a more produced look to it. Not just a stone tied to the end of a stick like the other. There was an iron point at the end of it that was sharp to the touch and the shaft was a solid sanded oak. Mal took a few practice one handed pokes with it while holding his shield in front of him. It felt good and it would give him more range than his Iron Longsword. Mal felt he could easily throw this spear almost in the spirit of a javelin thinking of his track and field career in High School.

Iron Short Spear, damage 1-6, quality poor

“Follow me, Sly.” Mal said done with his looting and they made their way toward the center of the field to where the kobolds had first sprung up. There in the matted grass they had been lying in was a wicker basket with a lid. Carefully with the tip of his new spear Mal unclasped and lifted the lid of the basket unsure of what these kobolds had with them. It was only full of berries from the field and Mal felt a little silly for his caution.

Mal finally used his herbalism and examine skills on the berries to see what properties they had.

Goodberry, healing, mana, and endurance restoring qualities, this could be used to make a combination potion or elixir

Definitely sounded useful Mal thought to himself and he popped one of the berries into his mouth to try the taste. Sourish with a bit of sweet kinda like a candy from back home. He felt a comforting warmth spread through his body when he ate it and it’s regenerative properties kicking in. Delighted by the feeling and delicious taste Mal quickly ate a couple of handfuls of the goodberrys from the surrounding plants.

His hunger sated Mal stowed the wicker basket, with the lid shut tight, firmly in his backpack. Mal reloaded his crossbow with the blood stained bolt he had recovered. Then he kinda did a check of his gear. Much in the same way he would pat his pockets when he left the house IRL making sure he had his keys, wallet and phone. Assured he had everything, he took a quick check of his compass and set out in search of the trading post using his new spear as a walking stick.

Sylvester trundled along behind him.