<table style="width: 36.8387%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
Steven Ranger
Skills
Language Translator - Max
Axe - Level 4
Cooking - Level 7
Professions
Ranger - Level 3
Sailor - Level 2
Talents
Traveller
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Well, First off was my name. Second was my skills, sparse as it was. I had two professions however and I figured that was where most of my skills were, which was good as any of the skills involved in that could level the profession according to what I learned. I had no idea what Talent was about. I shared my status with the headman.
“So your name Steven Ranger. Mine happens to be Frank Wells.” I looked at him a little thrown by how English the name sounded. He noticed, stopped and faced me. “Look, let me explain something quickly about the translator skill you got. It will translate anything said to you in familiar terms. However, what I said might not be what you heard, and vice versa. But the language translator, well it translates to what you know. Sometimes, it can be real weird. But get pass that and it will be fine.” He then started moving again.
“As for having a couple of professions, that''s wonderful! However, only the Ranger one is going to be useful to you around here for the most part. We are far from the sea. Judging by your surname I am thinking you come from a long line of Rangers. That will be good, lands round here need a bit of being kept and that. The talent, no idea you are going to have to look it up in the village library.” So saying he led me into a building and I had to blink.
It reminded me of my IT classroom as a kid. It was basically a bunch of desks with what looked like a computer on them. “This is the village library. All the information you need are on those terminals. Huh, it looks like you know roughly how to use one already.” I sat down and was thrown by how like a normal PC it was. Everything I had seen so far was basically mediaeval. Yet, here I sat in front of a PC, with familiar enough features that I had no problem navigating the menu. “All you need to do is enter the program called information, it will detect who you are and then you can access it to your heart’s content. Normally you have to book, but since you are getting the Traveller’s Allotment. Meaning, this will be available only to you for the next three months. It is all part of the procedures for your situation.”
I sat there feeling bewildered. Apparently this sort of thing happened often enough that there were procedures. I logged in and tapped in Talent, Traveller to see what would come up. I wasn’t disappointed. Apparently, this could manifest in a variety of different ways. The basics were always true however. I could access Speaking Stones and Travelling Stones, even if there were restrictions on them. Ok, I need to figure out what Travelling Stones were, although if they were what I thought they were, this could be a godsend. Portal Stones I could use with a reduced fee. Hmm. Not sure on that one, more research to be done for sure. Here was the strange bit however, If I became a merchant, a whole bunch of options could open up to me. That was a bit weird I thought. But hey, any advantage, I take. I need to figure out how to become one however. But I imagine that will come up over the course of my training session with this thing.
“Anyway, Now I showed you this, time to take you to your new home. Do you have any preferences?” This threw me. Any preferences? I asked him what he meant. “Oh you won’t know this, my mistake. The Speaking Stone will create your home for you, since you are a traveller. So, what kind of home do you want?” I thought about it and concluded that the best way to move in would be as if I intended to stay here, even if I didn’t plan to stay for too long.
“I would like a gamekeeper’s cottage, situated where you would normally put it.” He nodded and led me over to the other side of the village. Here, it was nearer the forest. Here I also spotted a few cottages that were like my grandfathers.
“I put you in this one here, luckily we got it spare. Old Derren died last spring and well, we got no rangers or the like that wanted to move into here. If after your learning you want to be closer to the forest or something else, sure we can accommodate you.” So saying, he gave me a key. “Here is the key to your cottage. If you need me, ask around and someone will bring you to me. Study for the next three months, we have a meeting every month and at the third meeting, we can determine what your best path forward is. Someone will bring you supplies for your first week, after that I will give you chits you can use to get the basic supplies to live on. Incidentally, you will get these chits for up to six months to help you settle in. After that, you are responsible for yourself.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
End of Month 1
It had been a busy month of learning. I found out a lot more than I bargained for. The highlights were these from what I could gather.
Powerful beings had ruled what had essentially been an empire. They had massive power, but each generation they birthed, the power halved in those successive generations. They had factions among themselves and had competitions between them to determine what faction was in charge overall, and where. Some reigned for centuries, some not so long. In the outskirts worlds, which was where I was, the gods were pretty peaceful. Seemed they had come here to get away from what they termed ‘inner world nonsense.’
Then suddenly, a Virus had came. Chaos. Death, Destruction. That kind of thing. The only way to escape it was to either evolve, or devolve as it were. Not a whole lot was said about that, other than it could be a quest you could follow. Which then led to an overview of how the system the gods had left behind for the ‘little races’ to use. It was this that meant we could use to grow stronger and gain skills. Quests were apparently a part of that.
I met quite a few kids. Apparently they use the village library to mostly learn the same sort of stuff I did but the consensus from the system as it were, was that what took them three years to learn, I could do in three months, or at least learn enough not to cause problems. I also spoke to a few other people in town. They seemed nice. I also learned some new skills and added experience to my Ranger profession. This was kind of exciting to see, even if it only budged up a little.
End of Month 2
It finally sunk in that I am never going to see my family again. To be honest, the chances were not great before with a criminal organisation hunting for me, but I suppose the possibility was always there. This month I really threw myself into the learning part. I learned pretty much the history of the world I am now living in, the god that ruled it and so forth. I also delved a lot more into skill progressions, professions and a lot else. I also learned more about god drops. They were basically like loot drops although infrequent for the most part, unless you took care of problems that were a big detriment to the area. A few wolves, no. A few wolves led by an enhanced alpha, yes.
I also figured that I probably would travel this world. Apparently a caravan would pull through here every few months. It always needed extra guards and I could get a job on that, no problem. There was even a profession for it as there was with most things. It was known as a next level job, meaning if I could level ranger to level 5 and add some skills necessary to the job, I could come to the stone and get it added to the professions I had. There was no cap to the number of skills or professions you could get, but if you say chopped firewood for a caravan as a caravan guard, even if you had tree cutter in your list of professions, it would be the caravan profession that would get the increase.
I decided to go to the village headman and discuss my future plans with him. Maybe he could give a few pointers, or point me to somebody who could.
End of Month 3
I had spoken to Frank and he had congratulated me on adjusting well into society and figuring out what I wanted to do. When I had expressed puzzlement, he had shown me a book he had. Apparently previous Travellers had not taken well to just popping up as it were. Here and other places. Frank was grateful that I had given him no problems.
He directed me to a guy named Sean Donn. Sean had been an ex caravan guard. When I told him of my plan to travel as a guard he had asked me if I intended to become a merchant in time. I confessed to him that I did. He asked about my skills and professions. When I showed him what I had, he told me to come back to him in a couple of hours as he had to research something, but he thought it would be beneficial to me.
So I decided to explore the centre of the village a bit. There was a general store as it were, and a notice board. When I took a closer look at the notice board, I found out something. It was something that my mind could interact with! There were all sorts of requests and offers by villagers and a small section that was a quest board. Apparently this was the norm for villages, but there were normally a building dedicated to this kind of thing in towns and normally those would also show the information from the villages. I navigated it for a couple of hours before going back to Sean.
I spoke to Sean and he had what looked like a diagram with a list under it. The diagram looked like this.
<table style="width: 53.6187%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
Ranger lvl 5 Guard lvl 5
Merchant Guard lvl 1
Sailor lvl 5 Merchant Guard lvl 5
Merchant Guard Elite lvl 1
Tinker lvl 5 Merchant Guard Elite lvl 5
Merchant lvl1
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
This was apparently a progression that he recommended to become a merchant. It was not as easy as just learning a few skills. Apparently I would have to merge a few professions to get there. This diagram, plus the list he gave me skills I would need for each stage, would help me immeasurably. I was a bit anxious about earning the Guard job, but he assured me that Frank would be able to help me out there and hopefully by the time the convoy rolled around, I would have the necessary skills. He also recommended me getting cook as a profession, as that was always a popular one if you had the skills and since I had cooking to lvl 8 already, he thought it worth adding. I thanked him for his advice and took him to the tavern for a few drinks where I met quite a few more villagers. I brought a few rounds and was welcomed most warmly by those there. I may have woken up with a bit of a hangover.
I spoke to Frank and showed him what Sean has given me. He said as it happens, my god drops that he was holding onto me might be able to help out there. He recommended that I study more up to the end of the month and then at the start of the new month, we would go through the god drops, with him and Sean on hand to give me advice if I wanted. I told him that it sounded for the best and I resumed my studies, this time focusing more on the laws and customs, plus the merchant rulebook.