《New Escape》New Escape Chapter Three
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'Hmmm It's probably been about three hours, I guess I will log off to see if my mother is home yet. Though I honestly don't know how logging out works so I guess I will find a bed first.'
Exploring the house I find a spare bedroom and sit down.
"Menu" Using voice commands again I open the main menu.
>
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'I wonder what type of options I can change.' I decide to log out and check the settings when I get back.
"Log out"
"Verifying combat status… Logging player out" The system voice plays inside my head before I return to the white room (Sounds like a looney bin now that I think about it).
"Exit System"
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Feeling like I just woke up from a nap, I remove the helmet from my head and check my phone.
'Hmmm, I was sure I had been playing for at least three hours, but it seems only an hour has passed outside of the game. This system is insane.'
It appears I had gotten two text messages. One is from Dylan, my best friend for years, said he received the game but picked a weird race and is in some strange place. The second text is from Maddy, saying she got the game and will play as a human. I respond to both of them with my username, but from what I read you can only add someone you have met already.
After checking whether my parents are home or not I return to the game after finding I'm still alone.
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Entering back into the game I look around and find Malek to still be asleep. I write a note saying I'll return and head out to explore some more. After exploring for about an hour a get a system notification.
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*Ding*
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STATUS
Satiety Levels at 75%
Health and Stamina regen reduced by 75%
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'It looks like I need to eat or I may receive some major penalties. I will definitely need to keep this under consideration for the future.'
"Inventory" Opening the inventory I grab a piece of bread and take a bite.
*Cough**Cough* spitting out the bread as fast as possible to get the stale taste out of my mouth.
'Oh my, this bread is truly gruesome.' Looking into my inventory again I find a cantine filled with water and take a sip. 'Well, I guess it's hard to go wrong with water.'
Drinking the water, my satiety goes up by 1% per sip. 'I wonder if there is a limit to the bonus water can give.'
Remembering there were settings I had questions about I open the settings menu.
"Settings"
*Ding*>
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STATUS
Pain Setting: 20%*
*Pain setting cannot be increased past 20%
due to risk of real life injury
Language Translation: Automatic
Passive ability enhancement: Automatic
System Assistance: On*
*Mental and voice activation of skills gives
system access to player character control
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I decide to leave the settings how they were, as I don't have any actual combat skills nor do I know the racial language of humans. When I opened my inventory before I saw that I had fifty silver coins, so I decide to head to a shop to in order to figure out the value.
'I believe the closest shop is a general store by Malek's house so I'll head there.'
Trying to trace my steps back to Malek's house I arrive at a general store not too far away. I decide to step in, and I'm greeted by a brown-haired middle-aged man. His skin is slightly tanned and a small scar goes over his nose. I look around at the goods that are sitting on tables and hanging from walls. General goods, befitting the title of general store, fill the room, items like rope, buckets, shovels, small knives, and horse saddles. I check the price of goods and compare them but decide to ask the clerk.
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"Excuse me sir, may I ask you a question?"
"Sure, what can I help you with?" The man makes a kind face and resembles a father.
"I'm rather new around and want to know how much a gold coin is worth."
"Hmm, well, with a gold coin you could probably buy anything in here, none of our goods are specialized so while you may be able to get a horse saddle here for cheap. We can't fit it to your horse and it isn't the best craftsmanship."
"I see. Well, my food is of rather poor taste and would like to buy some higher quality food; can you recommend me a place?"
Looking up contemplatively the shopkeeper furrows his brow. "OH! There is a small restaurant about ten minutes from here. The food is delicious but the price might be a bit steep."
"Cool, can you point me in the right direction? Also, what is it called?" a look of anticipation spreads across my face.
"Yeah it's over about… that direction" He points in the general direction of the restaurant "It's called 'Old Days'."
I thank the shopkeeper before heading in the direction he pointed. 'I really hope this food is good.'
After a bit of travel I find the wooden building. A chimney sticking out of the back releases what I presume to be wood smoke. Rather than a door, there is just a cloth covering the entrance, though it's currently tied up out of the way. I walk in and find a few people at the bar while a couple eats at a table. I take a seat and a young waitress comes to take my order.
"Oh it's you!" The woman who initially pointed me towards the adventurer's guild seems to work here.
"Ah yes, thank you again for pointing me to the guild. May I ask what sort of food you have here?"
"Oh it was no problem. Here is the menu," She hands me a menu written on paper.
On the paper are a wide variety of food I've never heard of or seen before, they must be exclusive to this world, I find something that looks familiar and order it.
"I'd like the fried egg breakfast" I return the menu to her and await my order.
During the wait the waitress brings me over a glass of water, but it does not have any ice because this world does not have proper refrigeration. I wait for ten minutes until my meal finally comes.
I grab my fork and begin to dig in.
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Legendary Farmer (available on Kindle July 2022!)
NOTE: Legendary Farmer is now COMPLETE. The first book, Clearing, was released on Kindle Unlimited July 5, 2022 with significant edits. I will post the first chapter of Clearing, as well as three chapters of Cuckoo's Dream, another novel in the LF universe, as a stub, with a link to the first book, so if you love LF and want me to be able to keep writing consistently, please go give Clearing five stars! In the VRMMORPG, Veritas Online, things are getting a little stale. Since the game launched, only one world- wide event has occurred, and that was a year ago.. The players are still having fun, but everyone agrees it’s about time for something big to happen. Everybody tends to forget that big things grow from small things, and little things are always changing in Veritas.The human country of Quarternell is at peace for the first time in... ever. Aspen, a former war hero, feels like he’s earned a quiet life together with his animal companions. They’re tired of fighting, and other people in general. They plan to live peacefully, far away from the city. As soon as Aspen figures out this farming thing out, he’s never going to go anywhere again. Unfortunately for Aspen, his country and his goddess aren’t quite done with him yet.Rouge the Rogue is a casual gamer in Veritas Online. She’s just a kid, and her focus is supposed to be on school and hanging out with friends. Emphasis on ‘supposed to’. She’s already pretty good at the school thing, and she doesn’t actually have that many friends. What she really loves is exploring all the cool ways the developers of Veritas found to make their game unique and realistic. Then she’s offered a very special quest, and an opportunity to go beyond the average player. She’s never been that much of a rule follower anyway....Clearing is appropriate for most ages. It has minimal foul language, no sex, and some violence. It is LGBTQ+ friendly. (P.S. IMPORTANT! This book contains very mild profanity, no sex, and is meant to be FUN. Yes, the characters sometimes think Deep Thoughts, and idealism pretty much runs rampant, but, in the end, I hope you just enjoy reading it. Laugh, cry, share it with your kids, read it to your dog, whatever makes you happy. My goal is for it to be accessible to everyone from ages 12ish on up, so you could definitely consider it YA, but with lots of big words because I don't believe in talking down to my readers.) Book Two: Harrowing (Starts after the original Chapter Fifty, now Sixteen, since I condensed chapters from the same perspective together.) Zoey has started her summer internship at Veritas Corporation, and she can honestly say that being an adult is boring. Until she starts learning secrets she was never supposed to know. In game, Rouge is finally making progress on her big quest. Apparently Duke Penbrooke took too long to return to the world, so the world is coming to get him... in the form of a few assassins. Aspen is going to have to face the life he left behind, and deal with the fact that it's not as easy being 'dead' as he thought. When what he'd hoped would be a short trip back to civilization to resupply turns into a whole lot more, he'll have to fight for his life, his friends, and his kingdom. Book Three: Sowing Rouge and Aspen have reached Bright, only to find that their enemies were already expecting them. They will have to quickly unravel the mysteries of who their opponents actually are, because they're already ten steps behind. Rouge and Aspen are finally home, but that doesn't mean they can return to their peaceful days of farming. Their enemies are hot on their heels and determined to destroy everything they've managed to achieve. Join them and all their friends for the final volume of Legendary Farmer.
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