《Illusion》 A Peaceful End? I could barely breathe. No, it would be more accurate to say that even breathing was a burden now. A plastic mask stuck around my nose and my mouth, giving me the oxygen I need to live, but that couldn¡¯t do anything about my failing body. Above my laid body was a white ceiling that I¡¯ve grown all too accustomed to for these past few years. But it¡¯s alright this time. This time, familiar faces surrounded my bed. Mother, father, sisters, brother, friends... Robert. Anguish and pity was plastered on their faces, but right now I was just glad I had company. Except for Robert. I loved this man with all my heart, and I was glad to have him by my side, but the look of total despair on his face bled that emotion onto me as well. His hand, firm and strong as ever, held mine tightly. That grip on my hand, which was now just mere skin and bones, felt painful to bear. Yet, the look on his face hurt me even more. Pushing my dying body to the limit, I forced my lips and vocal chords to move. ¡°Ro... bert... Everyone...¡± I called out, my voice hoarse and weak, yet everyone in the room took attention. My husband¡¯s grip tightened. ¡°Please... you don¡¯t have to worry... so much.¡± My breaths quickened, just from trying to speak. ¡°Y-You¡¯ll all do fine without me...¡± I said, before gasping in pain. Protests were made by the others, and Robert brought my frail hand to his lips, sandwiched between his own. The nurses and doctor in the background looked at me grimly, but did not interfere. ¡°...I¡¯m tired... I¡¯m going to... go to sleep...¡± I said, forcing myself to smile. I saw how everyone¡¯s faces contorted at my words, and Robert¡¯s especially. They knew what I meant with my words. My gaze landed on the man whom I¡¯ve been with for as long as I could remember. ¡°Thank you, Robert... I, love...¡± I couldn¡¯t force myself to say that one last word before I closed my eyes, and darkness engulfed my consciousness. And so, the unlucky life of a woman called Maya was ended. At least, that¡¯s how it should have been. . . . Indeed, I could perceive nothing but the pitchest of dark. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would¡¯ve thought that I was already gone. But I could think. I could see, even though I could not feel my body. And what I saw floating in the darkness above me was a young boy made of white. Short hair, skin, eyes lips... all was devoid of colour. Only a simple robe covered him from neck to heel. His colourless eyes were lifeless, locked onto me. ¡°What is your wish?¡± The boy¡¯s voice was otherworldly, just like everything else about him. It was no mere boy¡¯s voice. It was both male and female, young and old, deep and high. And that voice just asked me a question, one that I had zero hesitation to answer. ¡°I want to live.¡± It was such a selfish wish. I didn¡¯t want to pain to my love, my family, nor my friends any longer, so that¡¯s why I welcomed my inevitable demise with open arms. But, still. Even so... I want my life back. I want to turn back the clock to before the diagnosis. I want to spend my days with Robert, marrying him on an altar rather than inside a hospital room. I want to eat more of my Mom¡¯s cooking. I want to listen to more of my Dad¡¯s jokes. I want to be an elder sister worth being proud of. I want to enjoy life with my friends. I want to live. But I¡¯d forever regret wording my wish so vaguely. The boy¡¯s... no, the God¡¯s, face morphed into that of a smile. It was a gentle, kind, caring smile. Yet something about it shook me to the core. It was his eyes. The smile was no doubt genuine, but the way he looked at me was... I knew from a glance that this was not the smile a man gave to his peer. It was the smile an owner gave to his pet. And that accursed expression was the last thing I saw before my consciousness failed me again. . . . When I came to, I felt the unmistakable texture of grass beneath me. It was such a jarring change from the hospital bedding I¡¯ve been used to for the past few years, that I immediately opened my eyes. I was greeted by ever more unfamiliar sights; or rather, I sights I haven¡¯t been familiar with in quite a while. A clear blue sky. Trees, and the green leaves that adorned them. The smell of fresh air. Jarring. A welcome sight for sure, shocking me into rising up from my lying position. I immediately flinched, dreading the inevitable pain such a sudden movement would give to my withered body, but it never came. In fact, when I looked down onto my arms, I was shocked at how¡­ normal, they were. No longer were they frail bony sticks; instead there was actual flesh underneath my skin. My skin which had once lost its colour was now back to its original tanned look. ¨DGulp. Balling those hands into fists, I steadily rose up from the ground. Staggering as I stood on my feet; it has just been so long since I¡¯ve moved my body like this... my feet stood against the cold texture of the grass beneath me. It somehow felt nostalgic. I looked down. Thankfully, I was not clothed in mere hospital robes. I would¡¯ve been worried in several more ways if that was the case. Rather, I was wearing a simple brown dress, the loose skirt reaching my knees and the sleeves to my elbows. Then, my eyes switched to gazing at the world around me. I seemed to be in the middle of a clearing, in a forest I¡¯ve never seen before. The clean air, the seemingly-endless green and the relative quiet made for an almost picturesque scene. I don¡¯t remember any place like this near the city I was hospitalized in¡­ and in the first place, all the forests in my country were tropical. This was more like the typical forest you¡¯d see in media. Before I knew it, I began walking. My pace was sluggish and clumsy at first, by legs still unused to being used again. But that pace would soon heat up, as I relearned how to move. That was because despite the amazing miracle that is of my new healthy body and the natural beauty around me, a sense of dread began to build up within. ¡®Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I here?¡¯ These questions swam around my increasingly tangled mind, as I aimlessly walked across the forest floor. No, not aimless. I was definitely looking for something. Looking for answers.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Anybody? Is there anybody out here?! Where am I?!¡± I shouted into the forest, to of course no avail. My walk has turned into a jog, as I looked for someone, anybody to tell me what the hell was going on. I ran for who knows how long¡­ well, probably a few minutes at the most. But by the end, I was exhausted. I slowed down and halted to a stop. Panting, my hands on my knees as I tried to calm myself down. It was then I heard rustling. I spinned around to look at the source of the noise, hoping I finally found a person to talk to. That would have been too easy. Instead, what caught my attention was a not-too-unfamiliar beast; hairy with four short legs, a pointed snout and a pair of long tusks on its face. Stalking a dozen-or-so metres from me was a wild boar. A growl from the beast told me it wasn¡¯t friendly, which was all too confirmed when it suddenly made a break straight towards me. ¡°¨DHik?!¡± I squeaked in surprise and panic. Stepping back only for my back to meet the bark of a tree. Screaming cowardly as the boar closed the distance, I quickly turned around grabbed hold of the tree bark. Leaping up, using the momentum to help myself climb up the trunk. Just earlier I had trouble walking, but my state of fight-or-flight would not let me fail now. Long-buried experiences of tree-climbing in my youth saved the day as I made an ascent up the tree. The tree shook just as I was about to reach a sturdy branch, as the boar smacked itself against the trunk. I yelped, losing my grip for just a moment only to save myself by grabbing hold of the branch. Breathing a sigh of relief as I pulled myself up onto it. Looking down, I flinched as I saw the boar glaring at me with hostility. I didn¡¯t dare to say a word even with my relative safety, just staring back at the animal. After a while, it seemed to have given up, and began to move away from the tree. Once it was several dozen metres away, I began to relax only for the boar to turn around and charge straight back at me! ¡°Waaah! Give me a break!¡± I yelled out in frustration, but of course that didn¡¯t do anything. I gripped onto the branch as hard as I can, and true to expectation the tree shook violently as the boar smacked against the trunk. The force far greater than before. I managed to hold on in the end, but the creaky sounds coming from the branch that followed told me that this couldn¡¯t keep up for much longer. That¡¯s grim. I looked down to see how the boar was faring¡­ only to find that not only were its tusks stuck in the tree trunk, the animal itself was clearly dazed from the strong hit with its head. There could be no more hesitation. This was my only chance. There was only a distance of 8-or-so metres between me and the boar right below me. I had little time to steel myself before I dropped myself down from the tree branch. I descended down, air rushing around me as I closed the distance down onto the boar below. Missing was not an option. And thankfully, I hit the mark. My bare feet landed onto the undefended back of the beast, almost sinking into its flesh as the animal arched then cried in pain. I was quick to use the unstable footing to leap off and away from the creature. Landing on my side and rolling around a few times before I raised back to my feet, staring at the boar I just landed on. Its tusks were free now, but the beast itself staggered around in a daze. Spinning on its feet, dazed and in pain. But unfortunately still standing; I was hoping to break its back with my landing but it was too sturdy for me, it seems. But I can¡¯t just wait for it to get back its bearings. Running away is an option, but there¡¯s the chance the thing would come after me anyways. I had to end this now. Looking around at my immediate surroundings for a usable weapon, my eyes landed on a long fallen branch, about as thick as a pipe and as tall as a child. I grabbed onto it, holding like I would a mace and settling it behind me as stared down at the stunned beast before me. It growled just as I readied to make my move. Gripping tightly on the branch, I raised it and swung it forward above me. A bit heavy, sure, but once it reached the peak of the swing, momentum and gravity would do the rest. Just as the boar was about to take a step towards me, the end of the stick smacked down from above onto its head. Hard. I could almost feel the impact reach me as well. It was silent for the next few seconds. But eventually, thankfully, the boar would fall onto the ground. Either dead or unconscious. Soon after I would follow, dropping onto my knees. ¡°Ha, ha¡­¡± I panted, my body covered with sweat. God! That was way too much intensity for someone who¡¯s just been in a hospital bed. Just as I was about to find my bearings and relax, however¡­ A rectangular, blueish semi-transparent screen popped up right before my eyes. <> I stared at the screen for a long, long time. My eyes widening, locked onto the words shown and the pop-up that it was written on. A dumbfounded expression on my face as I took in the meaning of this screen and the familiar words it showed. I gasped, about to say something, shout something, but found that the words died in my throat. I reached out, and my palm actually pushed the screen away, and the texture I felt before it faded away was unmistakably similar to that of a tablet or monitor. ¡°No¡­¡± I said such a whisper. Because I was still in denial. I knew all too well what that momentary pop-up meant for me. But I still couldn¡¯t believe it. I didn¡¯t want to believe it. ¡°No¡­!¡± I was in a game. Or rather, a world with all the mechanics of a game. I¡¯ve seen this scenario far too many times in fiction. Fiction. Where a person would be thrown into another world and have grand adventures. Yet it was happening to me right now. ¡°NNNOOOO¨D!¡± I dropped onto my knees and arms, staring at the cold hard ground below. I was in a game. My peaceful end was robbed from me and was replaced with a mockery of a life. Why? What did I do to deserve this? I said I wanted to live. I wanted to live. I wanted to live. I want to live. But I want to live with my friends, my siblings, my parents¡­ I want to live with Robert. But now I won¡¯t ever see them again. My sobbing and anguish was only interrupted when I heard the strangest sound to hear inside a forest. It was the sound of bubbling liquid, like when you melt chocolate or what-not. Rising my pitiful self and turning my teary face, what I saw was most definitely not melted sweets. Jelly. What I saw were several masses of goo, separate and combined as individual slabs of goo as big as a human child. They look harmless at first glance, but within the semi-transparent jelly were the bones and fur of animals. Previous victims. Slimes. Slimes! Just seeing them made me suddenly break into crazed laughter. My god, I really was in a fantasy world, wasn¡¯t I? Slimes! The staple of every fantasy RPG. The easiest, simplest monsters the hero would fight against. And now they were here, before my very eyes. Because I¡¯m not at home anymore. I¡¯m here. Literal worlds away from all that I¡¯ve ever known, and all I¡¯ve ever loved. This was such a sick situation. And because of that, I laughed. ¡°Haha, ha, hahaha!¨D¡± In a daze, I rose up to my feet. I continued to laugh, my cheeks still wet. But the emotion that was inducing that laughter was not amusement. Rage. Rage against my misfortunes. Rage at myself for being so weak, in so many ways. Rage at the sick ¡®god¡¯ who threw me in here. Rage, rage, rage! My mind still in a daze, I grabbed hold of the stick that I used to kill the boar earlier as the slimes approached. Eyes full of wrath, lips curved into a smile, cheeks wet with tears. My feet moved first as I charged towards the masses of goo, a stick flying behind me. The next few hours were a blank in my mind. . . . ¡°Hah¡­ hah¡­¡± I panted, gasping for air. My heart beating like crazy. My body covered with sweat. Around me were what¡¯s left of a horde of slimes, now reduced to only lifeless puddles of goo on the forest ground. There were even a few boar corpses lying around. Don¡¯t ask me how I beat them. I literally can¡¯t remember; I don¡¯t even know how I ended up fighting so many in the first place. <> Seeing that pop-up filled me with yet more anger, and I smacked the screen away. That was apparently the last of my strength, and my knees gave away. I dropped onto the ground, my back leaning against a tree. The sky was tinged with orange but I couldn¡¯t care less at the moment. Tired beyond belief, I closed my eyes and let unconsciousness take over me. Silence I would wake up hours later, laid down on the ground with the dark sky far above me and decorated with twinkling lights. ...Looking back, that was probably one of the most vulnerable moments in my life. Not just emotionally, but physically too. I mean, I was knocked out for hours bare on the ground. If something attacked me right there and then, I would have been finished. Between the dirt and grass, the blood of boars and the jelly of slimes, and the numerous cuts and bruises all overy my body, me my and my brown wool dress was certainly worse for wear. But I couldn''t stay on the ground forever. With the last of my strength, I forced myself up a tree and tried to get some rest. ..."Trying" being the keyword here. My body hurt all over. I was afraid that the branch I was sitting on would collapse at any moment. And of course, I couldn''t stop thinking. I''m never going to see Robert again. I''ll never see my parents, my siblings, my friends... I''m literal worlds apart. Fate should have at least allowed me a merciful death after all of that pain, but instead saw fit to put me into more. Just thinking about it made me clench my teeth and fists in anger. I had to force myself to stop that once it gave me headaches and my nails were drawing blood. Before I knew it, the sky was turning orange. With a sigh, I dropped myself back onto the forest floor. Only for my legs to buckle underneath my own weight, making me collapse to the ground. So tired... so hungry... Am I just going to die like this? . . . No. No, no, no! I can''t die. I won''t die. It''s confusing. It''s irrational, and I hate it. Just a day ago I had accepted a peaceful death. Just now I cursed at having that robbed from me. But now I can''t bear the thought of dying a second time. I can''t die. I won''t die. I have to survive. There was at least one thing I could do to survive, as much as I loathed it. I stretched out my hand as if trying to reach for something. "...Menu... Open." I whispered out. As expected, what appeared before me was a screen consisting of various buttons, just floating in the air. [Status], [Magic], [Skills], [Inventory], and more. Just like the average RPG. Hovering above the buttons were two bars, one red and the other blue. Although, the red one was significantly shorter than the blue one. Apparently I was on 5/120 HP. How... terrifying. I knew I was close to death, but having it put in numbers made it all the clearer and scarier. I needed to fix this right away. My hand shakily made its way to the [Magic] button.
Schools of Magic
Light Magic (Lv 1) Dark Magic (Lv 1) Fire Magic (Lv 1) Earth Magic (Lv 1) Water Magic (Lv 1) Wind Magic (Lv 1) Ether Magic (Lv 1)
1: Create Light 1: Darken 1: Create Fire 1: Raise Earth 1: Conjure Water 1: Blow Wind 1: Heal
...What the hell? Why did I start with so many spells already? No, no. This wasn''t the time for that. I needed to stop myself from dying. And for that, I had exactly what I hoped I had. I closed my eyes, pressing my hand against my chest. "...Heal." I whispered to myself. I couldn''t help but gasp when I started to feel soothing warmth spreading across my body. I couldn''t feel bruises fade or cuts closing, but I could feel the pain fading away. I opened my eyes, and looked at the bars above the screen. 65/120 HP, and 30/50 MP. That did more than I expected, but also costed more at the same time. Inspecting my body, I could see that many of my bruises and cuts were gone, though not all. I took a deep breath. "Heal." This time with my eyes open, I could see green light spontaneously form and surround me, that soothing warmth from before returning and following the path of the light. I sighed in relief when the last of my (physical) pains and their associated wounds faded away, and the red bar filled up to full while the blue bar depleted to only a fifth of its size. ...Well, the threat of imminent death was over for now. But I was still damn hungry. Huffing, I forced myself back to my feet. Though famished, I still felt a lot better than before, and could at least muster the energy to start walking. Well, I could go ahead and find another boar to kill and hopefully cook that. Or maybe forage for some fruits? But really, I had nearly no survival skills. I can climb a tree, sure, but skinning boars or identifying poisonous berries? Would be difficult to pull off. Hmmn... wait. There''s one more thing I could try. Not too far away from the tree that I spent my first night on was the site of my crazed rampage yesterday. Really, I don''t remember a thing from that moment, but the impact was certainly visible. Just lying across the ground are the carcasses of over a dozen boars, sitting atop puddles of blue jelly. Disgusting, and smelly too. Already the boar carcasses were rotting and being attacked by flies. Certainly not safe to eat. Unless... I walked up to one of the boar carcasses, holding my nose to bear the stench. The sight was disgusting, but I needed to deal with it to survive. Staring at the still corpse, before whispering... "[Loot]" Ah. There it was. In front of me now was a new screen consisting of many blank boxes... except for the upper right corner, which had a few boxes flled with images that are correspondingly labeled as [Common Boar Fur], [Common Boar Tusk], and... [Common Boar Meat]! Exactly what I was looking for! There was no indication that it was rotting, even if the carcass itself was. It didn''t make much sense logically, but most game mechanics don''t. And I was more than happy to exploit that. I eagerly tapped the [Take All] button, and proceeded to repeat this [Loot] and [Take All] loop on all the nearby remains.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Slimes, by the way, drop something called [Blue Jelly]. I have no idea what it does, but I took them anyways just in case. Finally done with that, I took one last look around the clearing. Other than the many carcasses on the forest floor, there were (of course) trees, a couple of bushes... Wait, does that bush have berries? Making my way to that bush, I came to realize that there were indeed little dark blue fruits on this bush that I had completely failed to spot in yesterday''s rampage. In my famished state, they sure did look tempting... but I had no way of knowing if they were safe to eat. Well, I had one other trick up my sleeve. I gave the berries a stare. "[Analyze]". Just as I hoped, a screen popped up in front of me as soon as I said it.
Aovia Forest Blueberry
A common fruit found in the forests of Aovia and enjoyed by local animals and folk alike.
That has to mean it''s non-poisonous, right?! I breathed a sigh of relief as I started to pick the berries. [Loot] and [Analyze] are common staples with every RPG. Rather than skills, they''re more core mechanics, a given. In any RPG, you can expect to be able to loot defeated enemies, and gain information about items when you hover your mouse over them. It was good that that''s true here too. ...Still, I hate it. I don''t want to be here, but I have to use this world''s strange rules to survive. I don''t have much of a choice about it, so all I can do is grumble and move on. Sighing, I did all I could before getting away from that corpse-ridden ground, moving to a clearing nearby the tree I spent the night on. Having fresh meat was all fine and dandy, but I can''t eat it raw. I started to gather nearby sticks into a small pile, but I knew trying to start a fire by hand would be a waste of time. I''m no TV survivalist who can rub sticks together into a flame in under a minute. Instead, I extended my hand towards the pile. "[Create Fire]." I whispered, and as I imagined, a flame burst to life out of nowhere from the tips of my fingers and towards the wood. I shuddered from the sudden influx of heat, but it was enough to create a campfire. The heat was certainly welcome after such a cold night. I huddled closer to the fire, while opening my inventory. After tapping on the icon for the [Boar Meat], I literally had to pull a slab of raw meat from thin air before placing it atop the fire... A weird experience for sure, but it''s far from the oddest thing I experienced thus far. I started to eat the berries as I waited for the meat to cook. To pass the time, I decided to finally take a look at my [Status].
Name Maya
Level 5
Class None
HP 120/120
MP 15/50
Stats Str 25
Agi 25
End 26
Mag 20
Skills & Magic [Ateriu''s Blessing]??[Light Magic Lv.1]??[Dark Magic Lv.1] [Water Magic Lv.1]??[Earth Magic Lv.1]??[Fire Magic Lv.1] [Wind Magic Lv.1]??[Ether Magic Lv.1]?[Mace Proficiency Lv.1]
Huh. What''s with that stat distribution? Strength, Agility and Endurance are all fairly high compared to Magic. Well. I only started using magic now, while I spent much of yesterday fighting it out hand-to-hand. Do stats increase from performing actions, then? [Mace Proficiency]... Did it count the stick I as a mace? Far more worrying is that [Ateriu''s Blessing] skill, though. Sure stuck out like a sore thumb out of all those skills. Nervously, I tapped on the name of the skill, prompting another screen with its description.
Ateriu''s Blessing
A blessing given by the World Administrator. This passive skill cannot be turned off but can be hidden. Covers a wide range of bonuses including: Access to [Hero''s Aura]. Access to [Dimensional Inventory] and [Automated Looting]. Free access to all base [Elemental Magic] skills. 25% increase in EXP for character levels and skill levels. 100% Damage against [Demon King] enemies. Full understanding of all languages and scripts on the world.
...Is this what''s called a "Cheat skill"? Honestly, it''s pretty tame compared to some others I''ve read. Wait, does this mean both my [Inventory] and [Loot] mechanics are tied to "God''s" blessing? Damn... At least it explains why I already have all those spells unlocked. But then, what the hell is [Hero''s Aura]?-- My internal ramblings were cut short when I began to hear something in the distance. Voices. Human voices. Now, I could''ve decided to stand and fight, or at the least try to make contact with these strangers. But instead, I chose to quickly put out my campfire before leaping into one of the bushes, not too far away. I heard footsteps and voices getting louder with every moment. "[Darken]." I whispered, and all around me the shadows within the bush darkened further. Hopefully this was enough to keep me hidden. Eventually the... entourage came close enough for me to see from through the gaps between the bushes. The group consisted of six people. Four were positioned in a diamond formation around the two huddled on the inside. I could tell from a glance that the outer four were people to be avoided. Each was dressed in a mix of leather armour and wool clothing, each covered the lower half of their faces with rags, and most importantly each of the four had weapons. Two maces, one short sword, one spear. In contrast, the man and woman the four were surrounding as they travelled were wearing simple clothes like the dress I was wearing, and both looked utterly miserable. Though their legs were free, their hands were restrained with chains while ropes wrapped around their jaws as to muffle their voices. As the four... kidnappers?... approached ever closer, I forced the palm of my hand against my mouth to stop myself from making any noises. One of the armed men inspected the remains of my campfire, moving it about with his boot. "Embers still fresh. Even left some boar meat cookin''. Someone was just here." "Should we try and catch ''em?" One of his companions asked, gruff. No, please don''t. My eyes were drawn to the two persons kept captive. One was a a middle-aged man, the other a young woman near my own age. They were definitely pitiable. It was clear that neither wanted to be there, but they had already given up hope in escaping. "Nah, we won''t be able to catch up with these two ''round." Another of the men interjected, tugging at the chains that kept their two captives restrained. Making them, and me, wince. ...Should I help them? I have full HP, and I do have some spells... No, no. I have too little MP to use any offensive spell more than once. There''s no way I''d be able to take on four guys at once in a melee either. I don''t even have a weapon. "Eh, we''ll just ask boss to send a patrol here. Damn hunters. Let''s go, boys!" With that, the four kidnappers started to move, dragging along their captives with them. I held my breath and remained still as they walked right past me. Just as I thought that I had completely gotten away with it, the captive woman turned her head slightly... And she gave me a silent, pleading look. I felt a shudder run down my back. Yet, I simply closed my eyes and turned away as the group kept marching away. I can''t die. I won''t die. I have to survive.