The light faded from my eyes and I found myself no longer in the room with Kastris. That much was made much more obvious when a swell of air blustered around me and my skin bristled with goosebumps, a far cry from the very neutral, controlled environment I'd just been in.
"Where the hell am I?"
A long look around was in order. The small area in which I sat was some sort of whitish stone structure, though it had been ravaged by the passage of time. It seemed like some sort of standalone gazebo at first glance, but upon further inspection, was revealed to be the upper section of a much larger structure. Kastris had claimed that I would be deposited at some sort of temple? Something about a labyrinth? The structure was covered in some sort of vegetation all over - more accurately, several sorts of vegetation. Some ivy-like plant, moss, grasses, and many trees broke through much of the structure. The environment around here was undeniably gorgeous. This temple was set upon the side of a great mountain that pierced higher than the other mountains around it, marking this as some sort of range that was in a temperate location. The wealth of foliage that surrounded the place made for a picturesque view that took my breath away.
A clear blue sky greeted me from above as I stood from the small bit of debris that had replaced my seat. Stringy clouds were kissing the tops of mountains in the distance to... the north? South? Until I knew whether it was morning or evening, direction would have to wait.
'Upper Section' might have not been the best descriptor. The temple, it seemed, was massive. Sure, I was on some sort of outward platform, decently high up a mountain, but the temple went pretty far across the mountainside. It was hard to estimate, but it had to be a couple hundred meters across, and I was near to one side of it. There were at least six stories, and there was no telling how far it went into the mountain itself. A quick thought went towards the viability of building something like that, but I dismissed it immediately. Fantasy world and all that meant that many of the rules I'd previously known would have to be revised.
The air was fresh and clean, the temperature mild, and the pleasant feeling of sunlight on my skin tempted me mightily towards the prospect of simply sitting in and taking in the environment. No money requirements, no work, no cleaning, Free of all responsibilities except for some nebulous Godsgame... miiiiiiightily tempted.
But no, not yet. Though it was gorgeous, I needed to secure water and food. Food had been mentioned, so I doubted I'd been dropped in some location where I'd die of starvation or thirst, but making sure was important. Turning around to more closely examine the structure, I started moving. The temple had a very greco-roman look to it. A large amount of pillars adorned the yawning entrance, which probably stood somewhere around 3 meters high. Inside looked to be some sort of hall area that was like an indent, with what looked like doorways into other rooms in the temple.
Entering the hall, I tried to get a good idea of what was where. I moved off towards the left side to investigate the first room. There was a plaque next to the entrance, reading "North Storage."
I stared at it a moment. "That... is the weirdest fucking sensation." The letters on the plaque were legible to me, but clearly not English. I had to assume this was Commercial. This also gave me the direction of my surroundings, thankfully. A quick glance at the sky to reconfirm the sun's position showed that it was morning, at least if it acted the same way as Earth's sun. Shaking off the odd feeling, I stepped through the doorway. Inside was a grand total of nothing usable. It looked like some of the stone shelves had fallen apart, but even those that were intact had refuse on them. Whether it had been food or some other organic material, it had long since fallen apart in the open air.
"Storage is a bust," I muttered, walking out. Next up was a hallway, which I internally noted. "Dead ends first." I turned and moved towards the larger, more central doorway. Inside was a darkened room that was difficult to see in, like it fully rejected the natural light outside. For a moment, I looked near the doorway for a light switch. I saw a rectangular spot near the door and touched it before realizing my error. "Old habits are gonna die hard, aren't..." I trailed off as the small portion of the wall glowed a strange greenish color, and the room began to brighten with a soft yellowed light. "Son of a bitch. It's actually a light switch." There was no way to determine the source of the light, as far as I could tell. It was like the light of an old video game's skybox, simply suffusing the area. Looking about, the now-brightened chamber reminded me very much of Christian churches back on Earth.
Rows and rows of stone seating repeated throughout the large hall before terminating in a moderately spacious open area with what looked to be a small fountain in the middle. I carefully walked forward through the chamber, looking at my surroundings and noting the three exits, not counting the one through which I'd entered. On the other side of the fountain thing there was a lectern in front of some sort of dais, which sported a large stone throne-like seat that was half destroyed. On the far wall, on the right, there was one of the exits, next to another doorway on the right wall. What I'd thought was a doorway on the left side of the wall proved to be more of a small closet upon closer inspection, though nothing remained inside.
"Wonder if it's time, or scavengers, or both, that cleared this place out." I walked up to the throne and ran a hand across its stonework. It was intricately designed, obviously meant to display someone of import, or to show some manner of opulence. Lots of plant-like carvings were etched into it, though partially ruined by the half of it that had fallen apart. Mildly curious as to why the throne was damaged but the rest of the room wasn't, I shoved the thoughts aside to continue my search, mentally noting how big the room was, and the possibility of using the pews as places to sleep elevated off the ground. The stone would be uncomfortable, but it was better than nothing. The interior chamber would be more resistant to climate, especially if I could find something to close off the doorway. The fact that it had lighting made this place ideal for a living space.
The doorway in the back of the chamber was actually closed off. Rather than the open passages that the others had sported, this one had a sturdy-looking wooden door barring passage. "Interesting. It should be rotting or something." Despite the observation, it was in perfect condition, not even any nicks or damage in the door itself. It had an ornate-looking handle on the side nearest to the right - south, better to keep my directions straight - wall. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." A firm downward motion moved the handle, and surprisingly, the thing opened with no resistance. Stepping into the chamber beyond, I couldn't help but take a deep breath of surprise.
Within this smaller room were some very strange apparatuses. Apparati? The hexagonal room had three of its six walls lined with what looked almost like televisions. In the middle there was a pedestal with some kind of crystal sat upon it. It was.... well, it was like a ten-sided die. I had no idea what the actual name for the shape was, but it was instantly recognizable to me. Milky white in color, it sat impossibly on one vertex, spinning gently. "Damn." Despite the obvious magic of the lighting in the room prior, this was much more of a 'fantasy' moment, something that truly tugged at my heartstrings. "Damn," I said again, biting my upper lip. "I'm absolutely gonna touch that thing." I said the words aloud. I talked to myself regularly to sort out my thoughts, but in that moment, I said it with the hope that there was someone listening, someone who might be able to agree with me, or dissuade me.
No such answer came, with only a light humming sound making itself known now that I was listening for something. The crystal was clearly emitting the sound, and as I entered the room and approached, the slow spin of the thing actually came to a halt, as if expecting me. I waited only a moment before forcing myself forward. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," I repeated, this time forming it almost as a question. Without letting myself become discouraged, I laid a hand down on the nearest face of the crystal.
For a moment, nothing happened. I was disappointed, but took in a quick breath as the crystal started to come to life below my hand. Light came out of it in three spears, almost violently striking the three television-like objects that were on the walls. I almost pulled my hand away, but resisted the urge. This was incredible, and fear was NOT going to stop me from experiencing this.
Each of the wall TVs flickered with glowing white light for a moment, before suddenly becoming far too bright to look at. I closed my eyes at the flash, but it was over as soon as I'd reacted. I blinked, seeing now that words - and numbers - were beginning to form on the walls.
AdultHuman Allison Level 025 Yrs 0 Mos Class:UNINITIATEDC. of Nollnine Resilience: 10Mana: 10Endurance: 10 Afflictions: NoneAffiliations: NoneTraits: Champion 1 Level Pending Passive Skills: Active Skills: It really was like an RPG. This was me. Some of this information could probably be inferred from context and definitions, but some of it was definitely odd. Where were things like strength? Intelligence? Your standard fare for these kind of things seemed to be lacking. Level 0, with 1 level pending? Starting from the beginning, definitely. How did I level up, though? There were no instructions, no manual. I turned around to possibly check another place only to find that the door behind me had disappeared.
"Shit! Where'd it go?" Letting my hand fall off of the crystal, I approached the now empty wall. I put a hand on it, and it felt like smooth stone instead of the wood of the door. "How the hell do I get out?" I banged my fist on the wall, but took a deep breath. Calm, I thought. Clearly, the crystal had something. Maybe... "maybe I have to do my level?" I looked back at the display. "But how?" I walked forward towards the wall. "Surely not," I said, reaching a hand out. I tapped on the Level Pending spot like a hyperlink, and in a flash of light, new text began to form.
"What in God's name? Or names? Okay. Attribute. Judging by the numbers, that's these three." I looked off to the left wall, and in large lettering there were Resilience, Mana, and Endurance. "Let's think about this. Resilience means, like, my ability to take a hit probably. So I think I can equate that to health." I crossed my arms and brought a hand to my chin, considering. "Mana is obviously mana. Capacity to use magic. I think I can safely assume that. Which leaves Endurance as like, stamina, or something." I narrowed my eyes. "I should assume this choice is permanent and can influence my future. So what do I go for? Either my first or second choice needs to be Resilience. Not dying again is a big priority."
"But, on the other hand," I countered myself, "enjoying yourself is important too. We're here in a far off land. Am I really not going to go headfirst into magic?" But there was no guarantee I'd have any sort of magic to cast. The safe choice would be to go for Resilience first, then Mana.
The safe choice.
It had only been a little bit, so I was probably still in partial shock. I'd just died. I'd left behind a life I admittedly hadn't hated, but hadn't loved either. It had simply been life. This was an opportunity to do something truly amazing, something that I really, really, really wanted to do.
I reached forward and touched Mana, watching as my numbers changed. Status sheet? It seemed trite, but accurate. Mana now showed 30 instead of 10. Before I got any other ideas, I tapped on Resilience, noting the change to 20 there. The notification on the main screen changed.
The other screen, which had been showing part of my Sheet, now instead flashed to display three card-like options to me. "Am I in a roguelike or something?" I muttered, noting the design.
That was it? No descriptions? Just pick two of these? How did I see a description? "Maybe if I like, press and hold?" But what if that selected the choice? I'd have to test. "No matter what, I'm going for that mana bolt. I'm NOT restarting my life in a fantasy world without slinging spells. Let's test." I placed my finger on the Mana Bolt card, holding it there to see if it would show any greater description or something like a tooltip.
It did not. It simply glowed blue for a moment before disappearing, and I saw it show up below 'Active Skills' on my main sheet. "Fine." I considered the other two choices. Mana Bolt was offensive. What did Martial Prowess mean? Would I be just better with fighting? Become a sword master? That seemed too convenient. Parry, on the other hand, was straightforward. A defensive option meant to stop me from taking a hit. Of course, that meant the enemy was on top of me at that point, but that was basically the trade-off. Double down on offense? Or go more balanced?
I closed my eyes, and nodded. "Balance. I want to do fun things AND survive. If I can ward off a hit, I can run." I reached up and tapped on Basic Parry. A brief blue glow again, and the screens returned to their initial state of showing my Status Sheet.
AdultHuman Allison Level 125 Yrs 0 Mos Class:UNINITIATEDMage Resilience: 20Mana: 30Endurance: 10 Afflictions: NoneAffiliations: NoneTraits: None 0 Level Pending Passive Skills: 0 Skill Factor Active Skills: Mana BoltBasic Parry "Kastris, you don't think I coulda got a primer here?" Some things had changed. The Champion trait was missing now. Instead of C. of Nollnine, I was now listed as a Mage, and my level was 1. It also told me that I had 0 Skill Factor, whatever that was. Was that some sort of accrued resource, and spent on skills? I only had speculation at that point. Before I could think about it further, the room began to darken, and the crystal in the center glowed brilliantly as the light was almost sucked back into it. After a moment, it returned it its previous state, gently spinning on the pedestal. "This must have been that Lens thing." The door behind me was back, as well. "Some sort of security?" I shook my head. "Well, I have something now. Still, need to secure food and such before I start playing with my skills." As much as I wanted to start blasting with this mysterious skill, my head was still on straight. And my throat was becoming parched quickly in the dry air of the temple. I opened the door back into the large chamber, determined to find water.