《Re:NPC in a doomed world》 A Hedghog Saved, A World Made My life was like most the gods seem to play with these days, a boring one. Sure I had no real complaints, I had worked three jobs in my life waitress, secretary and finally the one I wanted Games Artist. Sure it was a small time 3rd party operation making foliage but modern games need a lot of foliage and I am happy to make it, even happier to get paid for it. I love art, and I love games so ¡°screw you¡± to anyone who thinks that this shouldn''t have been my end goal. So it''s not that I wasn''t happy actually I died after getting paid for my first commission to the game, so I was a little too pleased but that''s how it goes some times. You win some, you lose some; all at once in my case. I died the same way how many of these stories start in a car accident. No I wasn''t run over by a truck, no I wasn''t drunk driving¡­the other one, you know the one when the driver swerves because they see some stupid creature that for the life of the driver you know they should have just run over but without the swerve there would be no story. No accidental death, no meeting with a deity, just a continuation of what felt like it was going to be a really happy life. Well that''s how I died, clique as a fairy tale movie wrote by The Mouse Corp. ¡°So.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°You died Protecting a¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m dead?¡± ¡°Oh sorry, did not even that compute, now I see why you did go for the programming course even when I spec¡¯d you to become one.¡± ¡°B¡¯what?¡± ¡°Oh don''t give me that you had free will like any other person, I just got bored you¡¯ve played a simulation game before. Tell me you can just watch one of those just play out accepting the automatic responses every single time, it''s boring sometimes you have to at least do a character sheet and levelling.Or you find yourself, removing a persons inner thoughts to go to the toilet and hacking there brain to make them forget there are any doors in a room filled with rugs and a fireplace. Sure you can say it''s an experiment to see if a humans control of water or the dead rugs chaotic attribute of fire wins but we all no how that ?experiment? ends¡± ¡°Eh wha.. so I lived my life wrong?and what are you doing to rugs?¡± ¡° No, no. You did great. Don''t know why you had to be all heroic and risk your life to save a insignificant hedgehog. Especially when I was looking forward to the finished piece, really I liked your concept art and that one tree you know the one that''s to be at the start that grows different depending on your tutorial choices. Yes I was really looking forward to it. But well I don''t do disappointment well at all so I''m just going to cheat and use your brain to see how you would want some of the concepts to turn out¡­ I can''t get it perfect after all you weren''t going to be given that much of it to do but well I can just use your creativity to make it all and the actual one then mishmash, oh if you want to play it a bit more some of the betas are running at the moment choose a copy while I play with your head thanks¡± ¡°Huh¡± Pushed from the white spaces into a room of screens without having moved I was still a little confused but well that was to be expected it had been only moments for me since I had chosen an ill fated life threatening choice and then told I was dead¡­ But seemingly from what that man/girl¡­Woman/boy¡­thing was saying, did it move its mouth. You would think I would notice that being as I like aesthetics so much I would try to take notice of this kind of things more often. Oh well it said I could play the beta while it¡­does whatever it was doing with me? Let''s not think about that. Wasn''t the game only in its alpha stages? This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. A few hundred playthroughs of well a few hundred more screens of gameplay footage and I had finally started to wonder the long awaited questions, why was everything so clique? where did all the screens appear from and why did they keep appearing out of order as to the completion rate and notes about time of creation? And why am I not getting bored of this? Really I''ve played God knows how many hours of the same crap and not had and inkling to do anything else, what is wrong with me? ¡°Sorry I didn''t want you wandering off so I stopped you doing so? After all it''s really annoying to find an asset in the aspect of my creation space with just the basic view even if it''s not wandering about. You understand right? Of course you do I''ve watched you create stuff, and lose it at a flick of you zoom key as you forget to select your webpage yet think to scroll around it anyway. Yet you''ve nearly set the record for doing it and you barely lived long enough compared to most artists, of your type.¡± ¡°Anywho I''m done with creating my version of the game. I made a new world with it. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will but I''m more a casual gamer going off alerts to tell me when it''s reached exciting parts or needs my input. I''m too busy running too many worlds so I can''t play full time and worlds need full time commitments unlike games there are no save functions or your death would not have been so early on. Or in fact so disappointing to me. I probably wouldn''t of got the world past the dark ages, hell I probably wouldn''t of reached past Ancient Rome hehe fun times.¡± ¡°E¡­so you''ve made a real world out of the game? With the clique demon Lord and the Ragnarok that may or may not be impending. Or close for that matter?¡± ¡°Nah the Ragnarok won''t be implemented into it¡­until I''m bored and feel it''s going no where fast? And that''s unlikely¡­probably? So at least it''s nice for me I don''t have to keep the world running indefinitely in my save space do you know how big my cloud is? Not big enough for all the shit I get from Earth 4.1 I tell you¡± ¡°4.1?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So anyway since most the times novels have me do this I or my equivalent entity give the resurrect-e some extra power just think of something while I fill out some roles with other earthlings. This is gonna be fun.¡± ¡°Oh yippy¡­I''m going to be resurrected in a doomed world under attack by monsters a Demon Lord and with a gamer God carrying a kill-switch on the planet. You know Is it too late say I''m an atheists and get my nice boring afterlife of nothingness?...Guess so?¡± So what God given cheat to choose for a doomed game-esque world¡­well away to get out of there when the going gets tough seems a good one, and getting back home wouldn''t be a bad idea. ¡° I wish for the power to freely walk between planes of existence. And travel to all worlds.¡± Congratulations you have obtained: ?Planar Travel? (Rank 1) ?unique variant? Planar Travel maybe used to transport you and your companions up to 6 at rank 1 between destinations you have traveled to on the world gate network. [cost:0mp] PS. Nice try but your gonna have to rank it up if you want to travel to other worlds but you got the free part no mana cost for you. God damn it did I just waste my God created cheat on a free casting fast travel variant? Damn that''s a lousy cheat. Chapter 1 Lifes Gonna Suck ¡°So are you a boy or a girl?¡± (Bwah)what kind of question is that doctor¡­oh it''s a game start choice neat. ¡°Oh it''s a healthy boy¡± Wait no, no I''m not. Oh wait what he¡¯s¡­ ¡°It seems you have visitors bearing gifts¡± Huh I''m confused I''m not¡­ ¡°Oh he picked grandpas old knight, I hope he doesn''t cut himself chewing any of the sharp parts¡± Who gives a baby a toy with sharp detachable parts? Huh oh well at least I know¡­ ¡°Your going to be are rising star, being born this night where so many falling spirits have left the sky, after all that creates a strong destiny. Our little Hiro.¡± I''m not the protagonist. ¡°You''ve been so quiet my little gir but you look so anxious, I do hope you don''t shy away from the harshities of life too much. But for when I''m not there to hug it better, here have this to hold onto.¡±
Choose: Teddy bear/ stuffed raven or soft shiny ball.
What there are screens inside my head ahh¡­ Gulp¡­ Shiny ball I choose you.
Congratulations you are the fortune tellers daughter.
¡°My gorgeous little lavender eyed girl. That''s what I''ll call you Lavendar Sights.¡± OMG I''m the opposite sex child born the same day as the protagonist, I''m the doomed best friend from the tutorial¡­ Did I really have to be thrice doomed from the start you crazy deity. Well after actually I''m not quite sure how to tell time when I''m sleeping most of it a way but probably a while, I got over the whole doomed thing. I just have to not be the same idiot from the tutorial, done no death¡­ Except they also thought about killing her off mid game as a romance partner protecting the hero and dying by the big bad, and a whole funeral in the water thing, with a random swan dream that made little to no sense or correlation to the rest of the plot¡­I should stay away from the protagonist. But if he dies will the items with his requirement be useable by anyone else or does that actually doom the world¡­again. Wow this planets been made to die. So I have three choices die as quick as possible, the worlds fucked anyway. Two live my own life for as long as I can till hell rains down on us, or follow the hero and hope he, me and the world can be saved? Ahh well nap time. I awoke again not caring how many times I had done so and just wondered when mother would be done with her work and would be available to feed me. Though I should fear this way of thinking, the body knows what it wants and it wants food. Ahem but since food will have to wait till this customer has left I can at least try and learn a thing or two about how to start using minor magic. I''ve been trying to do this for a while now, it''s strange understanding everything said and yet not being able to ask your own mother questions, my tongue just doesn''t want to or maybe the vocal cords doesn''t want to work the same as my old ones. They should but they don''t, and isn''t that the way. So I''ve been watching what mother does while telling people there fortune. So far I''ve noticed something enters her, something leaves her, something enters the orb from her and her customer and finally something enters from the outside world into it while pushing out what came from the customer while burning what came from mum. All these something I shall call mana till I am told otherwise. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. But since I have seen her foretell for many people who have said they have no magic I''m unsure if I''m correct or not. It took quite sometime originally to see this stuff but on achieving sight I gained the skill ?Magic Perception?(Rank 1) which is where my assumptions on it being mana comes from. I hope if I can see it that means I can use it but I first need to find a spell simple enough to do that is not dangerous enough that I''ll kill my little body simply attempting it never mind the whole not wanting to do something stupid like starting an explosion inside my own body. Sure I don''t know if that''s possible but till I learn it is not I will believe it is. Hmm I''m hungry and this customer is just chatting. I wonder could I try moving mana from the outside into another object, and if I do it while mums here if it goes wrong she can probably save us. So how do I do that. Thinking at it doesn''t seem to do it¡­think louder maybe. How do I judge thinking volume¡­ghost headache, ok not the correct way for now. Um a chant would work but I don''t know any and my voice will probably just scream if I try. So observe mother. Peeeer. Is that threads of mana around her hands? Every question she stops moving the threads for the answer but keeps the threads around the orb, is the net of mana to hold the energies in the orb¡­ A control feature to help the magic give answer? But how does mum workout the outputs meaning? It''s just the same as it was exiting as it was entering? Hmm maybe I need to differentiate the energies before I can use them? Hmm I have no clue. Let''s try moving mana threads. My hands do nothing to the mana outside so I will need to use my inner mana, sad but makes sense or why would spells cost units of mp to cast. Ok I will call inner mana ¡°MP¡± and outer mana ¡°mana¡± to keep my head around it, or maybe I should name it free or open mana ¡°OM¡± OM sounds good. Though it kind of makes me more hungry thinking it¡­ Hmm still talking, mother you are being neglectful, and it would be rude to cry about it, so it''s time to experiment. Find the MP, move it to my hands and then tug the OM using the MP in threads¡­ Hm how do I look inside close my eyes. Yes use the hunger to make sure I don''t sleep and then meditate on my inner power, I wish I knew how to meditate it had something to do with breathing. In, out. Let my mind flow, let the energies flow..?Grasp? the outer mana using my mana and pull. *Crash* Well it''s not threads but hay I only used 4/5 MP hehe it worked.but what did I actually accomplish? ¡°Lavy¡­you, you used magic? You broke my pot? Why did you break my pot? How did cast silently¡­when you haven''t even learned to chant?or speak for that matter?¡± Huh she doesn''t understand I''m hungry? Lavy moves a hand to her mouth and pretend munches¡­ok munches just a little but she''s hungry go figure actually she''s kind of sleepy now too. Why am I talking third person in my head? Oh who cares I''ll nap while mum cleans up, then eat. ¡°Your daughter is a genius¡± ¡°And yet doesn''t understand the basic concept of baby logic, crying to get food? Well she''s special alright, sorry about your session.¡±
Congratulations you have ranked up to ?Magic Perception? (rank 2).
Congratulations you have obtained ?Mana Manipulation?(Rank 1) and ?Grasp?(Level 1).
Chapter 2: Lesson One How Not To Reject A MC ¡°Just stay with little Hiro, Lavy. And promise me you will not harm or change him in anyway.or scare him. OR PSYCHOLOGICALLY EFFECT HIM IN ANY WAY. Please just be goo¡­be nice ( I''m not getting into a debate on alignments or there connection with actions again).¡± ¡°Yes Mam¡± ¡° I''ll just be down the hall, so I will be able to sense anything you do¡± ¡° Yes Mam¡± ¡° And do remember that being a minor will not protect you when most people think he is destined for greatness, no spouting fabricated or real laws to get out of this one my little fire starter. You get along with him, no harming got that. (If it was up to me you would still be separated from others till I''m satisfied you know what is a moral use of magic)¡± ¡°Yes Mam¡± *Squeak* As she''s shutting the door she directs two fingers to her eyes, then to her daughter and back, before leaving the door ajar after thinking better of shutting it completely. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Oh don''t worry about all that, she''s just being over protective of you. I''m not gonna bite¡± ¡°*Gulp* uh Hi, so you¡¯re the fortune tellers daughter, Lavy she called you?¡± ¡° Yeah Ma calls me lots of things, she named me Lavendar thanks to my eyes. Which she shortens to Lavy, but all my other names I urned through my actions so I''m more proud of them. Firestarter, Chickenrider an ¡® Summoner of Crackers(usually shortened to Crackers) to name a few.And you? Your Hiro the boy with a great destiny¡­or so I''ve been told. What names do people call you by?¡± ¡°Chickenrider?¡± ¡°No they don''t that''s me. At least I think that''s me, I did mount one of those lvl 3 Coro¡¯s mum was given once as compensation on in ability to pay coin up front. I loved that little guy, didn''t stop me trying to ride him thing or blasting his head off when he got mad and tried to eat me. Sad but glories times. Why how did you get named Chickenrider?¡± ¡°Bwah huh, you¡¯re a strange one.¡± ¡°And you are quite rude. But there you go a destiny kid, will always take it to there head huh, while I got born with the stupid ?Harsh Life? attribute to your ?Life of Grandeur?. You get the easy life I get to live a very hard one. All desided by a few falling rocks. That''s destiny for ya.¡± ¡°We were born the same day?¡± ¡°We were born in the same room minutes apart at best.¡± ¡°So are you¡­?¡± - ¡°Destined for greatness? No I''m more likely to die early in life, because I live with a higher rate Critical Miss rate, a higher likelihood of Dangerous encounters and most mobs I meet will be higher levels or grades than usual. While I only get two advantages over other so called hero potential candidates and that''s; that I can grow to become any Grand class my blood won''t block me and if mums books are right we start with two bonus points expendable in any fashion any kind of point can be spent. Whatever that means.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re a born double edged sword?¡± ¡° Yup. Your smart for someone that''s got no titles.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°And you talk a lot for god knows what reason.¡± ¡°Why thank you for noticing. Mam says it''s my way of getting revenge for being such a quiet baby.¡± ¡°So can I ask you a question?¡± ¡° Sure, I can''t say I''ll know the answer but I ain''t much the daughter of a fortuneteller if I can''t answer a wee kid my own ages question fire away. Do you want to know when the dungeon southeast of town will open, that''ll be in two years when your houses saplings buds it''s first flower of the year. Or you wanting ta know the best way to become a knight, because you should first think about reaching level 10 and get a starter class before you go thinking about advanced classes but well I would say it depends on the kind of knight you want to be, a tough guy that can take any blows and only get mad at it go barbarian, toughest starter class there is and comes with a great berserker perk. If you want to be liked by any knightly band take up the priesthood sure you won''t be hitting things at the start but Paladins are a boon for all the parties.¡± ¡° um no those weren''t my question though I guess it answers it anyway (you¡¯re a Tutorial NPC of some kind).¡± (Muhahaha it worked he thinks I''m. A NPC, one of those close to useless Help Tutorial bots that jammer on about crap. Now if I disappear for no good reason in the years to come and reappear it will just be seen as the end of tutorial and the entry of some new game mechanic and not me fleeing him and all that comes from being close to a male protagonist as a women with a destiny on the harsher side. Huh but maybe I should of talked about his easy mode attribute rather than the stupidity I''ve been thrown of very hard difficulty games starting attribute.) It''s best not to have anyone know I''m a reincarnated person as any chance of living a life outside of the plot will be ruined if the MC has me as a party member. And he won''t let me go if he thinks I''m a comrade from another world, I''m pretty sure of that. ¡°I have another question how do I go about learning magic?¡± ¡°Well first you will have to learn to see it¡± With a click of my fingers and a lot more focusing than I want to admit to him I create a orb of light out of magic and began my Tutorial for him on magic. I was actually quite enjoying teaching the guy everything he asked of me I didn''t really think about how I should only know a little information as a NPC instead of what I was churning out of seeming to be a walking talking help desk with tutorials built in. Sure most characters like that in rpg are usually annoying as they spew it none stop at pointless time telling you to listen to them, but your gonna want to bring that character even if they are annoying in a game where there is no proof there is any second lives, every bit of info helps. So although I hadn¡¯t noticed it this protagonist had already set his sights on bringing me into his party. Chapter 3: Planning in a Spiral always ends the same way, at some point Whelp I¡¯m an idiot. Information, information is key and I spewed it. I would love to think it was all some weird part of the world trying to make me like the game character but she was less the chatty but the inquisitive type that asked the mc to go to place of tutorial nature or plot but didn''t know it all or if she did, she bloody well should have used that info better to stay alive. So probably not but possible, I would love to believe it was me trying to look out for the guy and inform him so he can save the world and whatnot. But let''s face it if I was looking out for this world I would use my knowledge and save it myself. Hmm Did I want him to find me out? Or to follow me? Who knows, he follows me but I''m a NPC to him¡­so I guess that means he wants me. To follow him in his party. But hah no I am going to use this life to live and to live you must survive, the best way to survive is to not be in danger in the first place. And the best way when you are already in danger is to get away from that danger, and as such I should prioritise learning how best to runaway. Why should I care about a world that has the same in truth life span as this body does. Sure it''s a world I helped to create and imagine, sure it''s built around mostly my concept art but it was in the end the gods creation around a game¡­and can I really justify living my life as a gods puppet. Can I justify leaving an entire planet of people to suffer who would not exist without me. I should stop thinking about this, I''m not strong enough to save or flee from this world so I should¡­I should Grind. But what, skills, levels or stats. Because let''s face it I can do any grinding levels up just to 10 will allow me to obtain a class which will make me that much stronger but with a class if it follows the rules of the game comes more restrictions on what you can learn and how you can progress, taking a class means restricting myself and starting down special direction. Where if I grow stats I will have tough repetitive time doing the same crap over and over to just grow a bit in those areas, but it will work and starting that after getting levels and it''s free stat buffs will be harder as each numerical value is harder than the last, which is why the free ones from levels are so useful and why levelling is seen as so powerful even without classes. So doing some stat training before I level would seem a good idea but I don''t really think I have the concentration to solo train that way hell to major in that root is beyond me. So skill grinding but is that obtaining new ones or ranks. The problem with skills in the game is that most the advance skills have a level as well as a grade or just a level. And since that means using the points obtained from levelling up that pushes us back to the dilemma, of which to do, no which to prioritise I should do some in all but what is my goal¡­wow I love circles don''t I no wonder people say I was unfocused, this is ridiculous. Ok, ok, so let''s just put this into easy notes and options. 1)I have some knowledge through playing who knows how many days of beta+ alpha footage of the game, while this maybe useful I do not know how much the world will in fact follow the game as the earliest part of the game past the the gender and name selection happens at the age of 5 that''s Hiros first quest as far as the games concerned then skips forward to 12yrs old then 18 and onwards with a few skips until age 105¡­so yeah you maybe able to see why I''m not so keen, if it was just a problem that could be solved within something reasonable say 10-20 yrs why not people usually have a longer working life but¡­ This game was to be an epic a heroes odyssey spanning life times ages passing a tree growing from sprout to fruition to becoming apart of what could be a grand city or a tiny oasis in a desolate waste. It would be too much¡­ And yet I doubt the God told this mc that. I doubt any of the other heroes know that the problem may be cut short early but more will grow, as it is a world built for epic journeys and dangers to always end up happening, no matter the years of peace in the middle which there will strangely be a few and we will end up having to live through every day of that peace knowing danger will come again and again. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Can I really entrust myself to try and keep it together just because I helped make it. Can I not. I failed at making a short list again¡­I''m bad with lists argh planing is so hard, why couldn''t I have been born a great strategist or something, or at least someone who could keep a train of thought straight. Ok yeah let''s continue 2) I am not alone the God sent others with me and there are whole bunch that are optional companions in the game after all the game had to keep you well stacked with how it loved the idea of letting you get them killed, so as to better humanity or the world in someway. So it''s not like there aren''t enough other people who want and will do attempt the jobs even if none of us do, though many will probably fail without outside help. But of outside sources I will take from how both me and Hiro have the different difficulty types that there is 6 of us never mind that is also the part size of the game so too many things point to it¡­but the God could have summoned more but till I know to her wise I''m gonna believe 6. Very easy (or the guy who will be rich and Op stat wise but if game restrictions apply has next to nothing but basic ?Hero? for his heroic level class.) Easy: Hiro ( the true very easy difficulty as actual very easy becomes hard with only 1 real heroic class available for all team members never mind boring) Normal: ( the dude/dudett that gets the vaguest perk, and yet the one I enjoyed the most) Hard: ( the person with the double edged sword perk) Very hard: Me ( I¡¯ve thought about me enough that I will simply comment; enough said. hehe always wanted to say that¡­ And still do, I will put it on my bucket list once I make one for this lifetime, and one for my last lifetime just so I can watch it burn when I have one of those emo moments and I want to think about all the shit I didn''t do.yeah) And the one unlocked after completing either of the hard difficulties the pitiable life form most likely never going to survive till we meet who''s playing this life on Doomed mode, hehe and you can tell just by how in stead of legend or hardcore for the highest difficulty but rather Doomed being its name shows how much that word got sent to me and probably everyone working on this game as a concept. I may as well mark this person as not appearing in my party as I would flee at the concept of joking the doomed person, no souls game has anywhere near the death toile as that difficulty. So with five likely living reincarnated personnel there is likely going to be a lot of changes to how events will play out never minding the whole it''s a world with a lot of free will for people rather than game logics overruling power of plot compels thee ideas pushing everything. So I forget what was I thinking about¡­isn''t that the way when you think on this stuff, you forget the point you were trying to focus on in the spiral¡­ Oh well let''s just go out¡­ I wonder if I can sneak into a cart and ride to the next town over if I can I''ll have at least some where to use my power to teleport me to and from. Ohh and then I can see how much grinding helps for a ranking skill with no actual mana cost¡­never mind it''s normal rate of growth with its godly edit I wonder if it grows at all¡­but if it does ooh how many ranks can it grow hehehe. Maybe escape won''t be too far to become an option, though part of me thinks that will probably be a level evolution to reach. But we can only find out as we go. ¡°Mam I''m going out¡± ¡°Fine¡­but if I hear you have burned anything down, I will get the blacksmith to build me a cage and maybe a collar for you.¡± ¡°Yes Mam. Though Mam I do think you need to think about maybe getting out yourself, your getting to sound pretty scary cramped up in here.¡± ¡° And who is the blame for that¡­Grrh why couldn''t she have stayed as the quiet baby. Though maybe that''s the problem with how she was to start off with, she seems to be worse as time progresses while other parents are just happy their baby isn''t crying all the time anymore¡­who knows I never got any of that from this one urg¡­¡± ¡° see you when I get back mam¡± Chapter 4: they just dont make rivals like they used to ¡°Lavy, ya going out? I''ll come along you can help me workout how to make fire instead of just pushing and pulling things.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Alright you don''t have to teach me today. So what ya wanting us to do?¡± ¡°Hiro you used to play with Sara and Brig down the road you should go keep them company today they''ve been missing you and I''m doing some boring stuff that will in fact be a lot of sitting around waiting, you won''t have to much fun doing that will you. So train or play with your old mates today, that ok. Cool¡± ¡°Cool?¡± ¡°Bye bye¡± So I set off hopefully he won''t follow, it wouldn''t be easy to hide two people in a cart and I don''t really want to explain my gift to him either. Now I just need to hide in Davies cart, he''ll go on his trip up the road he¡¯ll be there by the end of the day and I''ll ?Planar Travel? home in time for supper. I''ve even brought snacks so I won''t be tempted to eat away at Davies products. Nothing could possibly, change the fact that I''m nearly using some of the most stupid phrases in the book really I''m not going to Jin¡­..that was a close one I nearly used the other stupid phrase, god damn plots stop trying to compel me down bad juju. At least wait until I workout if this world actually has juju in or not. I couldn''t really tell, lore is one thing that is confused as fuck playing everything in weird parts of testing data and random versions of the same stuff. But with my starter ability it''s likely an attack will come, but of what kind will be the deciding factor on if I have made a nice bet or if I risked too much on a early trip hehe. ¡°Hey little lady what are you up to this morning off to go blow up some more scarecrows show them whose boss? Oh but not with Hiro today I thought he was trying to be a good influence on you.¡± (That leach just wants to squeeze out all my info and then party up with a decent early dps.) ¡°Nooo today I''m adventuring alone. I''m gonna see if I can learn to infiltrate.¡± ¡°Huh maybe he''s been a bad influence she wanted to be a Mage type before now she''s wanting to learn rogue skills. Well shouldn''t bother any one, hmm I guess the best way to do that is hide and seek. After all seeking things while hiding is all infiltration really normally comes down to.¡± ¡°Ahm then I guess I''ll try to practice and learn ?Hide? first¡± ¡°Well off you go then. Go learn your ?Hide? with the other kids. Well at least I can expect more quiet nights rather than the overly loud smashes and bangs of her magic training. Maybe this is good news. ¡± Welp crap I didn''t expect to be spotted by Davies before hiding in his cart. And why did I tell him I''m gonna try infiltration if he notices I''m not playing with the other kids I''m gonna have problems as he might check his cart before leaving¡­ guess we go with his idea. ¡°hello boys and girls (crap I''m bad at communicating with these kids how do they talk to each other¡­ What''s the etiquette for them um let''s just keep going I doubt they''ll notice if I blag it up past them just keep talking¡­you haven''t been talking this entire time you have been thinking this is bad real bad they must think I''m the weird kid in the world) WANNA PLAY HIDE AND SEEK?¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°No!¡± (Ahh I didn''t create a plan for that¡­ Gods I''m bad at this let''s throw a fireball and runaway) {Oh so she wanted to play with everyone not just me and she was giving me the heave ho because she wanted to instigate the request her self good girl but you should have relied on me. So now I will save you as your hero hehe add one Mage to my party yay me.}-Hiro POV ¡°I don''t know we''ve played ball too much why not play hide and seek or after all no one knows her auto hide spots so one extra player will add that little spice to the dynamics of the game that made it boring to play of late.¡± ¡°Ehh well whatever it''s been a while Hiro, so ok. But Hussy just don''t go getting ideas of grandeur just because you are his new best friend, he''ll be bore of you soon enough and then bam you won''t even be in his party slots for adventures.¡± I don''t even know what to think to that, never mind say to it¡­ is he perhaps jealous. You can have him random NPC boy?girl? Kid. ¡°Ok but she''s it first¡­so count to 20 and then you can hunt¡± Isn''t it usually 10 oh well whatever I''ll get this done with first . I have my mind link to the outer manna with my little web and use them as added feelers to keep some track of them and then search it could be done blindfolded actually that could be fun. Hehe kids all people have there own unique manner and all I have to do is read yours and follow them and then if I can''t keep up simply let my web gather more outer manna for reaching and check for the life signs not doing work or traveling normally but hiding. Muhahaha. Strangely enough her turn as it didn''t last long though the magically sensitive started calling her a cheat though they were enjoying the concept of having magic games and practicing the trick themselves. Now to just get into the barrel in Davies cart and cloak myself so no one uses. The trick to find me as I''m sure Brig wants to and the rest for that manner hehe. [ho ho ho you think your little web is so smart as glided around and sought us and now your using that feeble attempt at ?Hold? on the field manna¡¯s positions while drifting your essence to mix around different spots clever but your still using lousy level 1 abilities ok ranks but your level 1 in other words a nothing.] [ I''ll teach you to choose your hiding spots more careful a trip out of town will do you good. All I have to do is ?Paralyse? you in that barrel to shut you up and cover the barrels top with tarp and the carts blanket and boom bye bye silly know it all.] ***shhhcckk**** ¡°This might be a bit shocking girl but your going on a little trip. Don''t come back¡± What the fuck did random kid just paralyse me¡­but I was going on the trip anyway! Now how am I going to hide myself from Davies? Well I can just hope he doesn''t look in this barrel hehe ah well at least I knows the kid thinks of me as an enemy or rival or whatever. Now to get Hiro to choose random kid rather than me for the trip to the first dungeon. Let them deal with it''s problems. Or not maybe I should focus on the adventure at hand. Yosh on the road we go. Chapter 5: Memo to self make escape plans Well Im moving and something heavy or at least loud was at some point put on my barrel, but I kind of blacked out for a little bit there...but though it wasn''t exactly how I planned this all to go it did flow in the direction of my plan so, I guess it''s a success. Now to wait till I feel we have stopped and escape¡­or workout an escape first¡­first is good I have time. Ok so pushing a little on the lid tells me I''m correct in my assumption that there is something on top of me. So this leaves me with one wait till that is lifted off, most likely escape route, two try and cut a hole in the barrel to see what we''re passing as we travel and maybe escape through breaking my way out¡­this plan has only one flaw I haven''t a knife with me to use to cut it with¡­I guess I could try magic though if so I would probably be best trying to use it to push whatever''s on top off rather than cutting. Ah well really I just need to think of something to do in an enclosed space¡­that may or may not have enough air flow¡­wait the fact that I''m still breathing fine and feel good should mean it''s ok. What does it feel like to be running out of air? Dizzy? Faint? Headaches? I don''t know my body''s doing its normal thing of feeling bad when I think something''s up so I have no clue if anything really is or if it''s just my normal false alarms gah I hate my stupid body and it''s love of fake problems just tell me when things are actually wrong Grrh. But I think I was feeling fine before I started thinking there might be a problem so till there''s any real big change I won''t go breaking out¡­ No, no it feels wrong to wait around it what probably isn''t a death trap but makes me feel uncomfortable grr stupid head and it''s desire to be 99.9% safe most the time¡­ Whenever I''m seemingly not doing things dangerous and it switches to attack everything that moves while you have fun mode¡­ah that was a stupid mode in my old life¡­though most the guys at the bars had it coming the jerks. So I should just poke air holes in this thing. Now to think on how to do that, fire was easy to work out simply knocking two it''s of mana together can spark it and then you just gather oxygen or nitrogen or really anything flammable. Pushing and pulling could make a blunt attack but how do I cut¡­cutting in the end is the use of force to split connections. So let''s make a small mana net and try and hit it and split it¡­.hehe ok maybe that''s not the way but if I try while imagining the feel of sharpness and try to mould a collection of mana into a sharp form I might get it hehe I''m doomed. Maybe if I move the cluster at speed. Nope. Make sure that only the smaller ones of around the same size are at the front and the larger ones at the back to put wait into the smaller ones. Make the ones in front smaller fine with the big ones the denser ones should be crushed we need strong small particles of mana the sharp parts of things are always small on the edge. Big is blunt small but strong is sharp. Yes it cut my net. This feels if a little bit vague still to be the correct way to make¡­you have learned ?Mana Cutter?. ?Mana Cutter?(rank 1)(level1) Mana cutter is a form of magic that uses both manipulation and control of certain types of manna to cut objects. Depending on the manna collected for the spell it will deal more damage. This spell can be used to cut through other magic and the mana connections making it. ?Dmg? (1-2) The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ?cost?(12mp) My gods that''s useless in damage fireball at rank 1 did 3-8 for 4mp and it also has a level and rank so why would this spell cost so much just to do so little¡­is it because it took me that much more effort to visualise and make use of it¡­ Oh well let''s just activate it but damn I''m gonna be really sleepy soon. I try and form the ?Mana cutter? around two fingers and stab a hole int the barrel¡­it''s still holding as a spell and though it''s taking a lot of concentration hmm is it possible to keep this spell stable like ?mana net? and ?mana web? it doesn''t seem to have much of a drain rate just a large up front cost huh but as long as I concentrate I can keep cutting huh ok not as bad as I thought urg ow that didn''t cut¡­ But in each strike I can blunt it or more to the point let go of the smaller mana¡¯s I need to level up my hold skill really. Would levelling be better than ranking then to start with? Oh well I have holes to sightsee through and breath now though, I think I''m gonna nap now¡­huh I''ve ruined a barrel for most uses I should apologies for this latter I guess. Oh well, good thing I''ve always been good with motion hehe¡­zzzz After my snooze I notice were still traveling and from what I can see beyond the goods and the cloth flap above us with its constant waving around loose is trees¡­and lots of them. But it should be grassy fields not trees he always goes on the north road up to candlebrook not through the forest to¡­oh dear he''s going to port, he shouldn''t be but he is. That''s a two day ride not most of a one day ride¡­.oh crap or is it worse and he rode straight past and is taking the path to the capital through the woods and mountains that''s even longer to town¡­ Will it work outside of a route the in game spell needed us to find a route first to use it¡­a route that could only be found after reaching a town but at higher ranks it could be used anywhere and mine is a unique variant maybe it will work gulp. This was stupid, this was real stupid. I was hoping to get the hang of If it in town and uses its free cost to spam it till I ranked it all the way I could but now I''m a character that brings higher danger encounters in a forest¡­a that''s not just gonna be silly rabbits or boars that''s, that¡¯s not even highwayman we could encounter God knows how many dangers in here¡­ Why did he not just go up road like he normally does. *Creakeak*eke* What was that. ¡°What the hell is that thing!?¡± Those words, those words are never a good thing to hear. Especially when your having your own little panic just from seeing trees never mind, that those words are scary to hear yelled at anytime. ¡°Holy mother protect us, Stephanie move like the raging stallion I thought you were when I bought you not as the lazy mare you are.please please get us out of here¡± *Creakeak*eke* *Crack*¡±Ahhhhhhh¡± And with a wearling feeling and and a large thud that came a few too many times I found myself spinning and out of the barrel¡­it seems I wouldn''t have to worry about how to get out or how to apologies for the damage I caused. It seems all I had to worry about was the 50ft tall beetle that was throwing around the wagon and driver in its pincers¡­ I don''t remember that in the game. What the freaking bug is happening here¡­I just expected a demon wolf pack or bear¡­not this. Chpt 6 Leveling the field Okay okay, breath that thing maybe huge but you know the saying, the bigger they are¡­the more likely they are to crush you without even noticing? Wait has it noticed me? Or is running a option? Well let''s try moving very carefully away from the humongous beetle...very carefully crawl away. ¡°Eeep¡± there''s another ten¡­ And another they are eating the trees¡­ They have left, are leaving, an uprooted uneven mess of a field where a large forest once was. Huh scary, what the hell is this, the game never had any creatures this size except raid bosses, and never a herd of the buggers. What did the god do. Is this a raid boss creature creating a natural habitat? A self made event? A bug¡­I mean error on her/his/it''s part. Am I insane? Or did I simply forget a bit of lore stuff that the player never saw or something? *Screeee* Oh great ones spotted me¡­uh let''s think how can I defeat it, or escape. Big creatures could be taken down with a strong wire being flown around the legs wrapping them up a few times Star Wars style¡­but I haven¡¯t got a ship or any wire that strong¡­though magic might work I doubt a level 1s string will hold¡­ maybe try bug spray¡­a county wide gassing of the stuff¡­I''m screwed. Wait those marks that, no they can''t really be, ok it getting close its now or never do I try running or do I try to fight¡­ Well better to test a stupid idea and fail than, run in a deadly forest were colossus beetles are likely going to terrify all life into a likely rampage through your home if you can stop there harvest¡­great why did I have to think of even more consequences for running than simply the whole forest unsafe thing. *Gulp* so here goes nothing [Fireball]. Firing a small puny flaming ball into the creatures mouth I hope I''m right, sure I. Could try rapid fire and over fill it and I would if my idea was proven unfounded but if my belief is right one to the mouth should if all gods errors be praised it will.. [Congratulations you have slain Sap Beetle. Gaining 1xp] It worked the stupid creature still even scaled completely wrong and probably levelled as fuck still has its 1hp 1xp silly-nous. [Congratulations you have accomplished slaying your first monster greater than twice a adult humans size. You have obtained your first accomplishment ¡°Giant slayer¡± and 100 xp.] Well there goes my none level strategy. [ congratulations for obtaining your first accomplishment you have also gained another 100xp] Woo, I guess I may as well be happy for what I get levelling shouldn''t be seen as a bad thing ever stupid idea to try skill jumping first just to help my training be easier hehe. [congratulations on slaying a creature greater than 5X the average humans size. You have obtained a heroic achievement ¡°Gargantuan slayer¡± and 200xp] Oh right there are more of them, since it was more than ten times my size hehe. [congratulations on obtaining your first heroic achievement, for this you shall also receive 250xp] Well only 12 more and I will have completed the first of the three objectives needed to upgrade to a heroic class hehe it would be funny if I ended up a hero before I took an advance class hehe. [congratulations on slaying a creature greater than 10X the average adult humans size. You have obtained the heroic achievement ¡°Titan Slayer¡± and 500xp] And that should do it. [congratulations on defeating an Dangerous enemy greater than twice your level. You have gained the accomplishment of a ¡°Dare Devil¡± and 100xp] Oh yeah hehe I do like how they added the need for it to be skull level difficulty or ¡°Dangerous¡± to get any achievements/accomplishments¡­hehe though when the creature only had 1hp what''s really the challenge in its level hehe this probably should have been sold in beta as problems go¡­ Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! [congratulations on defeating a dangerous enemy greater than 5X your level. You have gained the heroic achievement of ¡°lucky cannon fodder¡± and 250xp] Well I guess that''s true. [congratulations on defeating a dangerous enemy greater than 10X your level. You have gained the heroic achievement of ¡°suicidal maniac¡± and 500xp] [congratulations on defeating a Dangerous enemy greater than 25X your level. You have performed a grand deed and achieved the title of ¡° Grand Underdog¡± may it serve to tell everyone to stay away from you in the future¡­it''s too risky near you. You also received 1000xp] OMG that was a grand deed¡­well guess I have completed an objective here to reaching a heroic class hehe¡­ [congratulations on completing your first grand deed for doing so you have also obtained a bonus 1000xp] Whelp now I just need to survive the rest of these Titan beetles and I will happily be the mostly likely bearer of the title strongest of my age group hehe¡­ So in total I have obtained in that one attack 4001xp or 6 level ups and 1351/1500 till the next level up. So as a semi-trained level 7 fireball thrower in a manner I could say this was one decent visit to the forest but since I hadn''t actually wanted to level up for a while it was massive failure huh ah well I''m stronger that''s what matters. Now to make sure I''m not crushed to death by seemingly level 26 bugs¡­ So that means¡­ I look on at the once dumpy but mostly healthy field and observe as the corpses poison blood gushes out by the gallons to decimate the landscape¡­oh dear and that''s from just one of them dying¡­ If I''m not careful I''m going to achieve the grand yet evil deed of wasteland creator. Um maybe I should pray to God to fix the scaling problem on these things...it''s worth a shot¡­ ¡°Oh great God who likes games won''t you please help me, I believe you have used the wrong scale for the sap beetles¡­please grant them a miracle of rescaling¡­any second now¡­no take your time I''m just likely going to leave a poison swamp where once there was a nice healthy dark forest of mid level monsters¡­please save my bacon¡­¡± Well it was worth a shot what other plans you got genius. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry it''s taken so long for an update I bought two dragon quest games and then my brother bought witcher 3 so I''ve kinda been wondering the world of fantasy without a care for RL or this. Sorry. I know I did this with my last piece of work as well get to a fight and stop¡­hehe but I will try and get this moving again¡­ The same with RL really. And yes I know I should update every one of the statuses to be in little boxes but I got too carried away with that in my last story I stopped keeping any flow in my writing while making them and I too lazy in my editing. Or everything would end up engrish rather than English. For anyone wants to know the level up costs are as follows 2.50 3.100 4.250 5.500 6.750 7.1000 8.1500 9.2000 10.2500 Without a class 11.5000 12.7500 13.10000 14.15000 15.20000 16.25000 17.50000 18.75000 19.100000 20.150000 Without advance class or a class. 21.200000 Etc. Of course some classes will make levelling up quicker and others slower. With some having quick starts and higher highs and some the opposite.