Calling up the menu interface turned out to be easy enough, if a little silly. It reminded Danika of the old motion tracking console games, with the way it required assuming a slightly artificial pose. She had to sit up on her hind quarters with one "hand" raised as if in greeting.

After a bit of experimentation, she discovered that it was possible to assume the menu calling pose while hovering in flight, but she really hoped that no one could take a picture of her while she was doing it. Fortunately, once the overlay screens displayed themselves, the pose could be dropped, and the screens were easy to dismiss when finished.

Listening to Tiana Treebane, elderly village woodcutter, explain the menu interface was weirdly disorienting. The menu interface itself was easy enough to understand for a long time gamer like Danika. The help section was limited, but had a clear bug reporting system, and linked to both the official game site and the online forum. If Danika had learned to use the menu earlier, she wouldn't have had to log out in the middle of her character creation.

The character sheet was… brief, and Danika wasn't certain she liked it. Her sheet currently read simply:

--

ZipZing, a Fairy Dragon and a Novice.

Karma: 5

Reincarnations: 0

Accumulated Level: 1

--

She had three skills listed:

Flight, natural: 1

Breath, exhaust: 0

Dazzling: 0

--

The last snippets of information that the character sheet offered were a health bar, and an energy bar, both currently full. Neither bar showed a numerical capacity.

Danika dismissed the menus and asked Treebane, "How do I gain more skills?"

"When you choose a path, gaining points in your existing skills can unlock more advanced skills, you can think of it as a natural aptitude," Treebane answered encouragingly. "A master of the same path can sometimes aid you in your progress, and one who is specialized can help you learn specific skills related to their specialty." The elderly mentor's answer was not short, and she continued, "There are also legends of sages hidden throughout the world who can teach skills outside of your chosen path, or even allow an individual to walk two paths at the same time. Occasionally you will even hear about rare items that can transfer a skill directly." Treebane eyed Danika and added grudgingly, "If you don't choose a path, you'll need to find someone with the skill to teach you."

Danika actually found choosing a path more tempting after hearing that there were ways to learn skills outside of a path, or even become dual classed. "But how do I gain more points in my skills?" she asked after a moment.

"Practice, of course," Treebane replied grumpily.

"What skills can you teach me?" Danika asked curiously.

Tiana Treebane actually wrinkled her face into a smile as she answered, "The combative path could teach you a number of useful things, and if you walked it, I might even teach you my special skill." Her eyes narrowed as she added, "But I won't teach a novice more than a single skill, and I won't teach my special skill to anyone who hasn't learned at least 3 combative skills and defeated the slime that lives at the bottom of the vale."

Danika pondered for awhile, and then huffed her breath out experimentally. Nothing happened. She asked her mentor, "How do I practice my breath and dazzling skills?"

"I can't guess how you'd practice dazzling, you'd have to ask a pixie or perhaps a wizard," Treebane declared. "The smith might be able to tell you how to practice your breath skill, I've heard he can breathe fire."

Danika was a little shocked when Treebane added kindly, "But perhaps that would be best left for another day little ZipZing? Even novice fairy dragons need their rest, not to mention elderly folk like myself. You've been here for hours and night has already fallen."

Danika looked up at the sky and stars twinkled back at her between the branches high above. The vale was still lit by a gentle glow that, she realized belatedly, was cast by shining flowers on the enormous tree that stretched above the vale.

Danika protested uncertainly, "It doesn't feel that long."

Treebane explained, in another of those slightly jarring moments, "Each day in your world is equivalent to 4 days in this one. Each day here is divided into 4 hours of light and 2 of darkness. Each hour can be counted in 4 bells. Our weeks are 8 days long, and our months are 28 days long, and our years 13 months."

Danika calculated for a moment, that made each year in the game about 3 months long in real time. It had been awhile since she'd played a game with its own time system. She didn't feel as though she'd been playing for hours already though, and she didn't know if she'd started playing during this day's morning.

Danika assumed the pose and summoned the menu, where she flicked over to the bio screen. It confirmed what Treebane said, she'd been playing for four hours already, and it was well past midnight.

Danika hesitated, because there was nothing specific she needed to be ready for in the morning, but then Treebane suggested, "Since you're using a VR-medi pod interface, I can put you to sleep if you like, and then the Sandman will entertain you until you truly drift off."

Danika gave in to her curiosity and agreed to be put to sleep. Treebane handed her an artificially bright blue berry to eat, and the last thing Danika heard before the world dissolved was, "Rest well little ZipZing."

--

Flecks of gold gradually coalesced out of the darkness, into a vague figure the same size as Danika. She stuck her hand out and was a little shocked to see her original human hand create a swirl in the cloud of sand. The figure solidified into a jolly gentleman who clicked his sandy gold fingers and asked, "What would you like to dream of tonight my dear?"

"You're the sandman?" Danika asked stupidly.

"Of course I am," he replied with a tip of his hat. He tossed the hat into the air and it burst into a puff of golden sand that formed into a little song bird, and circled them both, before landing on top of his head and poofing back into a hat. He made a little bow, and said, "The God of dreams, the King of sleep, with the sands of passing time dancing through my fingers, at your service."