《Doc》 Chapter One: Whoops, I Broke It. My name is Carver, and I am dead. Well, at least I¡¯d assume so, the whole floating around in a completely empty space as a spec of light doesn¡¯t exactly scream ¡®living¡¯ to me. I¡¯d shrug, but I don¡¯t have any shoulders. Or limbs, for that matter. Surrounding my on all sides (that¡¯s what I figure, it¡¯s kind of tough to figure out direction in here) is an endless expanse of darkness, stretching on to infinity. I¡¯d tell you if infinite darkness tasted or sounded like anything if I could taste or hear, but sadly, those abilities have been taken away from me. Smells like roast beef, though. You might be wondering why I know I¡¯m dead. Sure I could be dreaming, or just on some really shitty drugs, if I didn¡¯t remember my last moments with utmost clarity. I was walking home from university, the University of Alberta, to be exact, not that it matters any more, I¡¯m not going to be learning any more medical science any time soon. Unless they have a full credit course in heaven. Or hell, either one would be better than this empty beefiness. Anyway, I was walking home from school, when I heard someone scream from the Scotiaebank across the street. I turn at the same time I heard the gunshot. Now I kid you not, time seemed to slow to almost a stop here. I saw across the street, through the advertisement riddled window, a masked man pointing a gun at the teller. He fired, and I watched as the gun flew over the teller¡¯s shoulder, bounce off two walls, the vent on the cieling, pass through a woman¡¯s handbag, smash through the window I was looking through, and sink straight into my brain. Luckiest man on earth. Well, with that over with, let¡¯s flash back to the ever exciting present. Yep, still empy, dark, and beefy. I suppose I might as well reflect back on my life as I wait. Ever since I was a little kid, everyone around me has seen me as a really casual guy. I never tried too hard in sports, never studied my hardest, never really cared about romance. I¡¯m sure that, if I had put the effort in, I could have become a pretty damn skillful guy, I had a lot of talent after all. Even without trying, I came second or third in competitions, got straight As and Bs, and noticed I had a few admirers. Instead, however, I sat around most of the time and either played video games to pass the time, or read fiction novels. In fact, the time I decided to go to med school to become a doctor was the only time in my life I ever tried to achieve a particular goal. Most people might be unsatisfied by this, but I¡¯m not. I lived my life how I wanted, doing what I liked, learning whatever I wanted, a pretty satisfying life in my eyes. I¡¯m grateful I had laid back parents. Of course, I would have liked to live a little longer, twenty two isn¡¯t exactly the peak of life expectancy for med school students, even with the lethal doses of caffeine. It would have been nice to finish school, become a doctor, maybe work for awhile, then settle down. See the world perhaps, I¡¯ve always loved travelling when my family got around to vacationing. In fact, now I¡¯m-
ERROR MEMORY WIPE FAILED: DATA CURRENTLY IN USE RETRY (1) FAILED RETRY (2) FAILED BYPASSING... ... ...
What. What the hell is this? A screen? Okay, it looks like there¡¯s some kind of system here. From what I can inference, this blank beefy place is Limbo, the place where souls go to await the afterlife. Judging from the fact it apparently tried to wipe my memory, I assume I¡¯m in line to be reincarnated. I¡¯m not sure about the whole data currently in use thing, though, I¡¯m certain other souls who came here thought back on there lives, so it must have been something else. Deductive reasoning for the win!
BYPASS COMPLETE COMMENCING ABILITY ROLL ERROR INTERFERENCE DETECTED AUTOMATIC ABILITY ASSIGNMENT IMPOSSIBLE COMMENCING MANUAL ASSIGNMENT
Oh? Does this mean I can choose my own abilities?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHARACTER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NAME: [ENTER]GENDER: [ENTER]RACE: [ENTER]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~STATS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STRENGTH: [ENTER]AGILITY: [ENTER]VITALITY: [ENTER]
WISDOM: [ENTER]TALENT: [ENTER]CHARISMA: [ENTER]
CONSTITUTION: [ENTER]INTELLIGENCE: [ENTER]LUCK: [ENTER]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ABILITIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ENTER][ENTER][ENTER]
Yep. It looks like one of those classic RPG character screens from a few years ago. I can recognize most of the options, such as strength, or intelligence, which are pretty self explanatory. Wisdom seems pretty ambiguous, but if this is an RPG system, maybe it controls mana regen? There¡¯s also the two stats that seem to be the same, vitality and constitution. Most RPG games I¡¯ve played either had one or the other, why both here? Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll find out later. I also see an unknown stat, talent. Maybe this controls learning speed or natural ability or something. I wonder about how I¡¯m going to enter in the values, considering I have no hands, and am, in fact, just a ball of light. I try concentrating on one of the ¡®[ENTER]¡¯ options and, surprisingly, it changes into a ¡°...¡± symbol. Well then, since it¡¯s giving me the choice, why the hell not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHARACTER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NAME: CARVERGENDER: MALERACE: [ENTER]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~STATS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STRENGTH: 9,999AGILITY: 9,999VITALITY: 9,999
WISDOM: 9,999TALENT: 9,999CHARISMA: 9,999
CONSTITUTION: 9,999INTELLIGENCE: 9,999LUCK: 9,999
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ABILITIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ENTER][ENTER][ENTER]
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. When I try to increase my stats to over 9,999, a wonky error sound blasts out. Oh well, I¡¯m sure that¡¯s still overpowered as all hell. Let¡¯s see the rest. The race option is an incredibly long drop down option, as are the three ability options. I scroll all the way to the bottom of the ¡®RACE¡¯ list, seeing crazy options like ¡®Undead Skeleton¡¯, ¡®Blood Dragon¡¯, or ¡®Drider¡¯. Sitting at the very bottom, is the option I was looking for. I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be available, but sure enough. There it was. ¡®Lesser God¡¯. Fuck it. I chose the option and turned my attention to the abilities. An ungodly (heh) long list of abilities greets me when I select the ¡®[ENTER]¡¯ option. Fortunately, there¡¯s a search bar. Hmm, well, since I was training to become a doctor, why not continue on that path? I search up ¡®Healing¡¯ and the list shortens to a few thousand variants. Adding ¡®Instant¡¯ moves it down to a few hundred. Manageable, I suppose. After all, I have eternity in here as far as I know. Eventually, I find an ability called ¡°Absolute Instant Healing¡±. I select it and move to the next one. Figuring I might need some sort of defensive ability, I search for awhile, and come up with ¡°Ultimate Diamond Skin¡±. I¡¯d imagine the whole 9,999 strength thing will be enough for offense, so lets find something for information. After some poking around, I end up with ¡°Encyclopedia of All¡±.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHARACTER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NAME: CARVERGENDER: MALERACE: [ENTER]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~STATS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STRENGTH: 9,999AGILITY: 9,999VITALITY: 9,999
WISDOM: 9,999TALENT: 9,999CHARISMA: 9,999
CONSTITUTION: 9,999INTELLIGENCE: 9,999LUCK: 9,999
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ABILITIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABSOLUTE INSTANT HEALINGULTIMATE DIAMOND SKINENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL
Phew. Done. I¡¯m confident I made full use of whatever cheat the big guy (or girl) up there has decided to give me. As soon as I think that, the character sheet vanishes and another progress screen appears.
ABILITY ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE COMMENCING SEARCH FOR SUITABLE HOST SEARCHING... ERROR ACCEPTABLE HOST NOT FOUND, POWER LEVEL TOO HIGH COMMENCING MANUAL PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION
Does that mean I won¡¯t be birthed...? Alrighty then. The screen closes and another one pops up with a familiar looking blob of light and a host of options. Is this the body creation screen? For a few hours, I play around with a few options and manage to turn my light to a neon green and make a star shape. This... Will take awhile. Good thing there¡¯s not much else to be doing around here. ---An undeterminate amount of time later--- I¡¯m finished. How? No idea. I¡¯m concerned at how I was able to maintain full concentration on this for so long. It felt like days, maybe weeks. Something to do with worldly distractions or something maybe, I might¡¯ve heard something like that from a self proclaimed buddhist on the internet. What I ended up with was a man somewhat similar to my old self. Of course, I couldn¡¯t help but make myself devilishly handsome, but I kept the same general facial features. For those that don¡¯t know (what?! Blashphemy!), I¡¯ll describe what I look like. On my new body, my skin is white, a little tanned, but not quite caramel, with a few freckles on my cheeks being pretty much the only mars on the near perfect skin. Medium-high cheekbones that don¡¯t stick out too much, and a defined jawling leading down about 70 degrees to a squarish chin. My eyes are a deep purple, which I think is freaking awesome, don¡¯t judge me. I have thick eyebrows that, when glaring, give a very menacing look. A sharp, somewhat flat nose leads down to wide lips housing perfect teeth. My ears lay flat against my head, uncovered by my medium length hair that leads back into a short ponytail. All in all, I stand about 7¡¯4¡±, not including ponytail height. My muscles are defined, but not bulging, and other than my head, my body is completely hairless. I had a lot of leg hair in my past life, and let me tell you, is it ever annoying. Nodding my non existent head in confirmation I mentally confirm my new ¡°physical manifestation¡±. The screen disapears and a new one pops up once again.
PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION COMPLETE COMENCING WORLD SELECTION ROLL SELECTING... WORLD 34AB3995FJ294L5 SELECTED COMMENCING BODY CONSTRUCTION BODY CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE TRANSFERING SOUL IN... 3... 2... 1...
Here we go. Chapter Two: A Light Smack Birds chirp softly, grass rustles in the wind, and tall oaks creak in age, as the soft glow of a midday sun illuminates everything in a warm yellow light. I can feel the malleable dirt and grass press against my toes as I dig them into the ground ecstatically. A smile splits my face, and I raise my arms to embrace the feeling of wind against my hair, and the never-before-felt touch of a breeze against my hanging junk. I guess the body building process doesn¡¯t include clothes. Oh well, it¡¯s not something that can ruin the moment. I¡¯m alive after all. Again. With my memories intact, along with a ridiculously strong body. Actually, lets test out this 9,999 strength of mine. I look around, seeing this new world in intricate detail. Currently, I am surrounded by a forest. Oak, I believe, with a few birch trees mixed in. I seem to have spontaneously appeared in a small clearing, about ten meters in diameter. The forest isn¡¯t very dense, the treetops block out most of the sunlight, only allowing a few shrubs and bushes to survive on the forest floor. The sunlight passing through the leaves of the trees casts a serene green glow to everything. I strain my eyes, noticing I¡¯m able to see each individual blade of grass far into this beautiful forest, several dozen meters away at least. What is this? 6k, 10k vision? I pick a tree at random, an old, towering oak, one that has seen one too many storms, judging by the scars on it¡¯s bark. I wonder if I can leap over there in one go, I have maxed out agaility after all. I judge the distance to be about four or five meters, much farther than I could¡¯ve jumped in my past life. Come to think of it, what would a regular human¡¯s stats be like? I take a sprinter¡¯s stance, my right foot digging easily into the soft earth. I tense for a moment, then push forward with all my strength on my left foot, swinging my right leg to get as much momentum as possible. A bad idea, as it turns out. The earth exploded behind me as I shot forward at unimaginable speeds, slamming into the first tree, then passing right through it as if it weren¡¯t even there, my body continuing it¡¯s insane flight. WHAM ¡°Holy-¡± BOOM ¡°Shit-¡± SMASH ¡°Too much-¡± CRASH ¡°Power!¡± Blasting through dozens of trees, I eventually feel my feet touch the ground, only to have them pulled from under me by my own momentum. I went tumbling head over heels for several seconds, smashing through more trees, until I finally came to rest halfway inside a huge oak. I sit there for a moment, digesting what just happened, before attempting to extract myself from the tree. I ended up with my head and shoulders out one end and my legs hanging out the other. Bracing my hands against the tree I, ever so slowly, having learned my lesson, pushed myself through the hole I made, my fingers sinking into the wood like it was margarine. ¡°What is this tree made of, styrophome?¡±, I ask myself incredulously. I manage to extract myself and stood up to assess the damage. Miraculously, I¡¯m perfectly fine, not so much as a scratch on me. Even my junk is fine, thankfully. I think I underestimated this body, maxed stats is more insane than I thought. I look back the way I flew in, and see a path of destruction. It looks like a plane crashed in the forest, or a tornado tore a path through. Earth is upturned, trees are fallen left and right, and splinters of wood, some as big as my arm litter the forest floor. The birds have stopped singing and the place is deathly quiet. I must have made quite the racket, all the wildlife is afraid of me! ¡°GRAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!¡± Maybe not. That didn¡¯t sound good. From the direction of the roar comes grand splintering and crashing sounds, like something massive is blasting its way through the trees. The sounds are getting louder. Okay, this is bad. I don¡¯t even know how to walk yet, what if I make a step and get blasted into the sky like Team Rucket? So like, the idiot I am, I¡¯ll hold my ground and hope whatever this thing is, it thinks I¡¯m not a threat and keeps going. As the smashing gets closer, I start getting nervous. Sure, I might have 9,999 in every stat, but I don¡¯t even know what the average strength is in this world. Maybe everything here is obscenely strong? Suddenly I feel very small. I don¡¯t have enough information, as soon as I learn to walk, I need to go find civilization. I make a tentative step backwards, and surprisingly I don¡¯t blast off again. I can do this. Before I can make another step however, the big smasher makes himself visible, blasting through a few more trees before it spots me and stands stock still, steam blowing out of it¡¯s nostrils. Yeah, I didn¡¯t sign up for this. That¡¯s definitely a T-Rex. In this idyllic, peaceful oak and birch forest, is a fucking twelve meter tall tyrannosaurus rex. Fuck. It opens it¡¯s mouth wide, showing off massive sharp teeth, perfect for tearing flesh. Or concrete, I¡¯m sure. I quickly smack my hands against my ears in anticipation. ¡°GRRRAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!¡±, it roars at me, the world seeming to shake in the power of it. It takes a step forward. BOOM Another step. BOOM It starts running towards me, blasting through trees like they¡¯re made of packing pellets. BOOM BOOM BOOM All of a sudden, it¡¯s reached me, bending it¡¯s massive head down to swallow my whole. ¡°Oh HELL no!¡±, I scream, and swing my arm at it, palm open. My palm swings toward it, and the world seems to slow down. I see my hand hit it right in the upper jaw, and a light ¡®pwap¡¯ is heard before my hand sinks through the beast¡¯s flesh like it wasn¡¯t even there, I feel slight resistance as my hand hits bone, then it keeps going. The rest of the jaw starts to follow, as things begin to speed up. I start to hear snapping sounds as the entire upper jaw, along with most of the beast¡¯s head is torn off completely and flies off into the forest. Unfortunately, the rest of the rex¡¯s body is still moving forward, and I let myself fall to the side, not trusting myself to dive, as the beast slides to a stop, tearing up the earth, and pouring blood from it¡¯s wound. This forest is really having a bad day today. I lay on the ground for some time, simply in awe of my power. So this is what 9,999 strength means. Maybe I went a little overboard in maxing everything. Slowly, I push myself up to my feet, making sure not to put too much strength into it. I look down onto the great beast studying it for a minute, but before I could put too much thought into it, a ¡®ding!¡¯ sounds and a blue screen appears in front of my face.
Adolescent Tyrannosaur (Translated)
Rank: Ruby+Danger Level: SMarket Value: 34,530 Rals
The Tyrannosaur is classified as a Ruby+ Beast, as the strength of the individual can range from Ruby to Diamond- in rare cases, usually depending on its age. The Tyrannosaur has several weak points, the scales on the belly are much softer than those on it¡¯s snout or back, and its head, being the only method of attack, is quite slow to turn. The scales of the Tyrannosaur are highly valued for their toughness and medicinal properties. The eyes of the Tyrannosaur are aggressively sought after by nobles for their role in potions of youth.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Alright, let¡¯s not get overwhelmed, break it down. This must be the effect of my skill, Encyclopedia of All, it seems it gives me information about whatever I focus on Adolescent Tyrannosaur. Heh, if this was only an adolescent, I shudder at how massive a full adult must be. I assume the translated tag means it was translated from the local language. The rank is probably the locals¡¯ way of judging the strength of a beast. I¡¯m not sure about danger level though. Since it¡¯s an S, maybe the ranking goes from the classic F-SSS? If so, I took down a pretty damn powerful beast with only a desperate slap. I don¡¯t know what a ¡®Ral¡¯ is worth, but 34,000 of anything is a lot. Too bad it¡¯s too cumbersome to carry. The market value tab actually confirms something I was doubting ever since I first saw the T-Rex. The presence of civilization. For awhile, I was worried I had been dropped into some sort of prehistoric world absent of any intelligent species. It looks like that¡¯s not the case though, considering there¡¯s a monetary worth to this thing. Ignoring the part about potions of youth, it looks like the scales of this thing, which average about three centimeters in diameter, are pretty good to make armour out of. Again, too bad I can¡¯t take it with me, I¡¯d get some awesome T-Rex clothes made for me. Oh well. I¡¯m thankful this thing popped up all of a sudden, it gave me a chance to analyse the facts and get my heart to stop hammering against my chest. I need to get moving before more of these things show up. Even though I can kill them with a slap, they¡¯ve got terrible breath, and I don¡¯t want to be anywhere near one again. First things first, learn to walk, then find some sort of sign of civilization. -Several Hours Later- After re-learning how to walk, I wandered the forest for a few hours and eventually stumbled upon a dirt road, with tracks that look like horses all over it. After following it for about half an hour, I came to find myself where I am now. A walled village. They weren¡¯t very impressive walls, barely a few meters high, and consisting of pointed logs buried into the earth. The road leads into a flimsy gate with two guards. The guards wear some type of leather armor and weild wooden spears. From what I can see, they look to be of asian heritage. I hope I don¡¯t stand out to much, with my definite european looks. They can¡¯t see me, at least I assume they can¡¯t, I¡¯m about a mile away, peeking over the crest of a small hill. Well, I need some clothes, let¡¯s go see if the locals are accommodating, shall we? I also dearly need a bath, I tried to wipe the gore from the rex off on the grass, but my arm and much of my torso is still stained red. After a few more minute of walking (now under the watchful gaze of the guards), I give the entrance and give the nervous looking guards a bright smile and wave, a few meters away. They look nervous and point their spears at me, one of them shouting what sounded like, ¡°Dinah!¡±. I assume that means, halt so I stopped in my tracks. Perfectly understandable reaction upon seeing a strange, handsome, naked man covered in blood. Great, a language barrier. Trying my luck, I shout to them, ¡°Look, I¡¯m just trying to find some clothes, can you guys let me in?¡±. They look even more nervous now. One of them, not the first one, shouts back, ¡°Shidoh cahino alado idenvilo toulself!¡±. Hold on, some of that sounded like english. ¡°What was that?¡± I shouted back. ¡°Shou muhno identify yourself!¡±, the guard shouted. Before I could reply, a blue box appeared once again.
Translation 100%
Sweet, must be another perk of Encyclopedia. ¡°My name is Carver, I just came to get some clothes, it¡¯s a little breezy down there as you can see.¡±, I shout at them. The guards seem to relax, and the one who was shouting at me looked to the other for confirmation. The other guard shrugged and the first one turned back and gestured for me to come closer. He must be the senior. I did, stopping about a meter away, and noticed they still had a tight grip no their spears. ¡°Why are you covered in blood?¡± the shrugging guard asked me with a suspicious expression. Let¡¯s call him guard one. I saw no harm in telling the truth, so I told them, along with a slight white lie, ¡°I got lost in the forest and a Tyrannosaur attacked me. I killed it, and lost my clothes in the process.¡± At that last sentence, their eyes widened, and they grew so pale, I thought they might¡¯ve suddenly become anemic. After a moment of apparent shock, guard one shot to his knees, pulling guard two with him. ¡°Oh venerable senior, forgive this one for speaking out of turn! I beg of you to spare this lowly village, it was only my mistake!¡±, guard one said with a tremble in his voice. Huh? They thought I¡¯d destroy the village just because the guards were suspicious of a naked man covered in blood? ¡°Uhm, no, it¡¯s fine, really. You don¡¯t have to kneel.¡± I said awkwardly. Guard one looked up, uncertainty and fear etched across his face. ¡°I-I could never! To disrespect such a gracious and merciful lord such as you...¡± he said. What. I was a lord now? ¡°I said it¡¯s fine, you can get up.¡± I said a little sharply, this was starting to get annoying. The guards paled even further, and guard one shot up, pulling guard two, who looked absolutely terrified, along with him. Was I really so scary? They continued to keep there heads low, however, refusing to meet my eyes. ¡°I-if you don¡¯t mind me asking, what would the venerable and merciful senior like with our humble village?¡± asked guard one nervously. I frowned. Maybe telling them I killed the Tyrannosaur was a mistake. It seems in this world powerful people tend to treat those weaker than them like trash, judging by these guards¡¯ reactions to me. Well, it¡¯s not like I want them to fawn over me as their new king. ¡°Like I said earlier, I just need some clothes, if you want me to be, I¡¯ll be on my way after aquiring some.¡± I said in a calming voice. Wouldn¡¯t want these guys freaking out on me again. Guard one shot a meaningful glance at guard two, who scampered off like a bullet through the gates. Through the now open door, I could see a bustling village, merchants hawking their wares and villagers going about their daily lives. All of them look asian. ¡°We would never stoop so low as to send you away, glorious elder. This humble village of Shinoha welcomes you with open arms.¡± says guard one. Open arms my ass. And what¡¯s with the whole ¡°elder¡± thing? I¡¯m barely twenty two. ¡°Uh, do you mind stopping with the venerable senior thing, it¡¯s starting to get on my nerves. You can talk to me casually if you want.¡± I said to him. Guard one glanced up at me, showing surprise, before returning to the dirt. ¡°Of-of course, lord. As you wish.¡± he replied. Sigh. This will take some getting used to. Chapter Three: Confirmation and Interrogation Wow, it''s been awhile, this is pretty late, not that I had a release schedule to begin with. Sorry about that. I had to go on a math crunch since my grades were slipping, so there wasn''t really any time to write until now. It''s getting pretty late, and I''d like to catch up sleep, so this is a pretty short chapter. Think of it as a background filler chapter of sorts. Enjoy! PS: I really suck at thinking up Chinese names, so forgive me for that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For awhile, I just stood around with Guard One awkwardly. After a few minutes, however, Guard Two came sprinting back through the gate with a bundle of clothing. He bowed deeply and held it out to me, saying, ¡°I sincerely apologize, Great One, but this is the best clothing we have in the village.¡± I shrugged and took it from him. ¡°Thanks.¡±, I said simply, and looked over what I had been given. First was some kind of modern underwear slash loincloth crossover without an elastic band, which I promptly put on, sighing at the loss of refreshing breeze. Next was a stiff gold embroidered red shirt, probably made of cotton, and a similar pair of leggings. Finally, a pair of wood soled sandals went on my feet. After I had put on my new clothes, Guard Two started fidgeting. When I looked at him curiously, he nervously said, ¡°I-I am terribly sorry, Great Lord, b-but I must ask you to remain here until the village Elder arrives to verify your identity.¡±. He then cringed as if I¡¯d blow him away for that or something. I just shrugged again and said to him, ¡°Whatever, I don¡¯t mind waiting.¡±. I admit, I¡¯m a little worried about this whole identity verifying thing, since I don¡¯t exactly have an identity to verify in this world. I guess if it comes to it, I¡¯ll just have to jump away. I didn¡¯t have to wait long. After about a minute or two of looking around aimlessly, I spotted an elderly bald man with a long white beard, as if all the hair on the head decided to relocate to his chin. He appeared to be about averagely dressed, not that I knew how the average person dressed around here. The old man was flanked by three heavily armed guards, in what looked like some kind of metal scale mail, a far cry from the to numb nuts guarding the gate, they must be his personal guard. They each had a long sword at their belts, their hands resting at the hilts. Expecting trouble? Worry not, my shiny new friends, I¡¯m quite the passivist! Unless you¡¯re a twelve meter tall T-rex. Unlike the two guards the elderly man simply nodded his head at me before he started talking, a refreshing change from the over respectful actions of the guards. ¡°May the sun greet you, sir. I heard you claim to have killed a Tyrannosaur?¡±, he asked in a gravelly voice. I shrug. Too late to go back now. ¡°I did, the body is about two kilometers into the woods over there¡±, I say and point back the way I came. The old man nods and strokes his beard thoughtfully. ¡°Then, I suppose you wouldn¡¯t mind if we go to confirm this? I hope you understand, we¡¯ve had an awful lot of fakes around here lately, slimy thugs looking to get some free handouts.¡±, he said with a dangerous glint in his eye. Ahh, the informality! So refreshing. I hope he doesn¡¯t start to act like the guards after he sees the T-rex. ¡°Sure, I see no problem with that. I can understand having to watch out for that kind of thing. Do you want to go now? Since I finally have some clothes I¡¯m fine to go whenever.¡±, I answer nonchalantly. The old man nods and says, ¡°Lead the way.¡± I turn and start walking, and he falls in beside me, his guards following a meter or two behind. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. For a while, neither of us said anything, him apparently content to just walk with me, and I just couldn¡¯t think of anything to say. Finally, something he said came to mind and I decided to ask him about it. ¡°So.¡±, I began. He jumps. I must¡¯ve startled him. ¡°So, I heard you say something about greeting the sun, or something, earlier. Is that some kind of greeting around here? I¡¯m not from this area so I¡¯m kind of out of the loop in regards to customs.¡± The old man looks startled. ¡°You must come from truly far away if you have never heard the greeting of the sun.¡± I just shrug, willing him to continue. He looks at me oddly before continuing. ¡°Here in the Hou Zheng Kingdom we greet acquaintances with, ¡°may the sun greet you¡± to show respect to Yi Yang, the great sun god. It¡¯s mostly used when meeting someone new, as a formality. To have never heard of this, you must have come from outside the range of the church of Yi Yang, which is quite wide indeed.¡± I nod sagely, as if I understood anything he just said. That was a lot of information to take in. To summarize, I am currently in the Hou Zheng Kingdom, in Who Knows Where, in which the primary religion seems to be the church of the sun god, Yi Yang. To top it all off, people here greet new people with, ¡®may the sun greet you¡¯. He left me to ponder this, and we ended up walking the rest of the way in silence. Eventually, we came upon the huge gouge I had made in the forest in my little experiment. I¡¯m kind of proud of my navigation skills, this forest is far from thin. I looked over at the old man to guage is reaction, and he was looking around at the destruction awe, as well as a little fear. ¡°A Tyrannosaur couldn¡¯t have done this...¡±, he muttered. ¡°Ah, yeah, that was me. Rough landing. ¡° , I say nonchalantly. Hey, the hole¡¯s pretty deep already, why not a little more? He visibly recoiled from me, giving me a disbelieving glance. He was looking pretty nervous now. Maybe he never actually believed I killed the T-rex? Soon we reached the end of the path, a big tree with a similarly big hole marking the spot. I looked around, humming to myself thoughtfully. It should be around here, right? Ah, there it is, the green skin lets it sort of blend into the forest, though why such a huge creature would try to blend in is beyond me. ¡°There it is.¡±, I say simply, pointing to the corpse. I heard an audible gulp beside me before the old man shuffled towards it. He stopped a few feet from it and just stared for awhile. Finally, he turned back to me and said, ¡°One last thing, my lord. A test of strength, if you will, just to be sure.¡± Oh great, now he was calling me lord too? I kind of miss when he thought I was a sleazy thug. I scratch my head and shrug, before walking up to a tree. This should do, right? I dig my hand casually into the wood, and scoop out a handful, feeling about as much resistance as if I had stuck my hand into chocolate pudding. I turn around and raise an eyebrow at him. He simply nods in confirmation, and says, ¡°Thank you, that should be all.¡± I guess that¡¯s it then? Not much else happened after that, we just walked back to the town in silence. When we reached the gate, the old man stopped and turned to me. ¡°I thank you for complying with my selfish wishes. Now that I have confirmed you are telling the truth, I, Elder Zuan Gi, would like to formally welcome you to the town of Doulu Zen Ji. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay.¡±, he says, and gives me a deep bow.