Chapter 2-First Day

A canopy, Morpheus could see a canopy through his blurry eyesight. He stayed still for a bit letting his head slow down from spinning. As he opened his eyes he saw he was in a forest. The tree next to the chimera had a reddish-brown colour stretching up roughly twenty metres. The tree then branched off in all directions sporting crimson red leaves which blocked off almost all of the sunlight. Sitting up Morpheus could see the same tree out in every direction he looked. For a moment, he wondered where he was but memories flooding him soon explained everything. Arios!

Contemplating everything, Morpheus brought up his status and checked everything was in order. He did however see a new notification in the bottom left corner of his screen.

‘Welcome to Arios Realm Traveller’ Due to your unexpected and unusual arrival through Ancient Portals you have caught the eye of Janus, God of Passages.

“Ha, gods just love me”

The chimera brought himself up and he leaned against the tree. Examining its roots.

‘Crimson Sow Tree’ This tree is highly resistant to fire, this tree can mark territories of beasts such as the Fire Komodo, Wreckon, Fire Hares and on such rare occasions Fire Wyverns.

Snatching his cigarettes out of his bag. He used ‘spark’ to light it and stared into the crimson canopy above him. ‘Put me in a safe place my arse’ he thought. Morpheus was excited to see all these different creatures that might try to kill him.

‘This is Arios, where I can do whatever I want, no rent, no constant battery of social media and news’ Morpheus thought. He extinguished the cigarette and stood up. He brought up his map where he could see his surroundings. Noticing the Capital City of Ervos at the top of his map which was in the North direction. He spun around so the arrow was pointing in the direction of the city. He realised the map showed nothing of the pathway there so he needed to see what was around him.’I'll climb the tree’ The chimera thought and got up and stared at the tree. Just then realising the tree was twenty metres into the air with very little foot holds where he could get up.

“I could try, what’s the worst that could happen… Let’s test out this new body” He said to himself.

Bracing himself against the ground, he bent his strengthened legs and jumped. He didn’t expect himself to completely overshoot and hit his head on the tough bark outcropping on the tree. Before he was almost out of range of the hole he outstretched his hand trying to grapple onto anything he could find before he fell back to the floor. He stopped in mid-air.

His finger nails had seemed to outstretch and bury themselves into the reddish bark. He swung his other hand up and noticed his fingernails extended and became sharp. Digging his other hand into the bark he began climbing up the tree using his feet to push himself up while his fingernails dug into the tree. Approaching the top of the canopy he landed himself on a branch which seemed to go up to the top canopy.

The next moment his breath stopped. All around him was a sea of trees, others further away from him had the normal green colours of leaves he knew. He saw birds he had never seen before with long tails flapping in the wind. Morpheus tried to concentrate on them more when suddenly his vision zoomed in.

(Swall Long Tail Alpha, ?)

(Swall Long Tail Juvenile, ?)

(Swall Long Tail Juvenile, ?)

(Swall Long Tail Infant, ?)

You have levelled up Lifeform Identification Level (2)

The young chimera still could not see the levels even with his levelled up skill. So he decided to identify the rest of the flock.

(Swall Long Tail Juvenile, ?)

(Swall Long Tail Elder, ?)

(Swall Long Tail Juvenile, ?)

…

You have levelled up Lifeform Identification Level (4)

(Swall Tail Alpha, Level 34)

(Swall Tail Elder, Level 38)

(Swall Tail Infant, Level 21)

After watching them glide through the air for a bit, he climbed back down the tree taking advantage of his new weapons. Getting back down he realised the time had just passed noon. He decided to bring out his bow and hooked it over his shoulder, and began heading in the direction of Ervos.

Ten minutes after he started to walk, his hearing began to pick up rustling through the dead branches up ahead of him. Morpheus slowed down and ducked behind a thick tree.

The noise became louder as he saw a snout poke out from a bush.

(Wreckon Infant, Level 23)

The creature called a wreckon had the body of a bear but instead of fur it was covered in crimson scales. The scales reflected some sunlight that broke through the canopy. The beast moved sideways towards a small squirrel like creature which hurriedly scuttled up the tree.

(Tree Hugger, Level 6)

‘Well it does make sense’ Morpheus thought. He carefully unhooked ‘Dark Elf Elite Bow’ from his arm and pulled a ‘Penetrating arrow’ onto the nock. It was the first time he had actually ever done this but it felt second nature to him. He pulled the string back, aimed at the wreckon's head and fired. The arrow plunged into the beast's shoulder just shy of its head.

What happened next completely startled Morpheus, the beast let out a deep roar and met his gaze preparing to charge. In no less than a second the wreckon was upon him, lunging it's five clawed paw at Morpheus. He tried to twist his body around, but the mutated bear caught a small chunk of his lower torso. Tearing easily through his leather armour and a part of his cloak.

By this point the adrenaline had already been administered into his bloodstream and his heart began to beat out of his chest. Facing the bear in a standoff, he pulled another arrow out and aimed it at the beast's head. The arrow ricochet of the scales and embedded itself into the dirt. The beast lunged on top of Morpheus, he barely managed to pull out his ‘Dagger of Black’ before the paw clawed at his face leaving three nasty cuts. Out of pure fear and anger, Morpheus kept stabbing the dagger into the beast's neck and head in fast succession as the wreckon tore off a bit of his shoulder. Blood was pouring out of the beast completely covering Morpheus. The mutated bear let out a wimp and crashed down on top of him. A sudden rush of energy filled his body. He quickly checked his stats.

Current Status

Health: 78/360

Stamina:284/405

Mana:387/440

The fallen beast pushed all the air out of him causing him to gasp as he tried to push the carcass off him. Eventually Morpheus found his breath.

”Holy Fuck.” The younch chimera said.

He sat up next to the dead wreckon and the pain from all the cuts across his body and face was setting in. He began to cry at the pain. Figuring he might die soon thoughts flooded across his mind in ways to deal with it, when he checked the gash on his torso it was not as bad as he looked at it previously. Bright reddish violet magical strings began to protrude from the damaged flesh and almost stitch his skin back together. When the gash closed he could only see a faint white mark. His left shoulder on the other hand still had blood pouring out.

This time he decided to focus on his shoulder. His mana started depleting rapidly, almost ten points a second. Within three seconds his shoulder had patched itself up leaving more of a mark then the other one. He checked his stats again.

Current Status

Health: 190/360

Stamina:327/405

Mana:357/440

Morpheus laid back down again in exhaustion. Bringing out his water skin, he splashed some water on his face and gulped down till the water skin was empty. He then checked his new notifications.

Amazing! You have slain (Wreckon Infant, 23) Due to solo killing an enemy 20 levels above your own additional experience has been added.

Due to solo killing an enemy 20 levels above your own you have been given the Title ‘Challenger II’ +1 Strength +1 Endurance +1 Vitality. You are able to toggle this title on and off.

Due to solo killing your first enemy which was 20 levels above your own you have been given the Title ‘Born to Kill Giants’ +2 Strength +2 Vitality +2 Wisdom +3 Luck. You are able to toggle this title on and off.

Due to your achievements the Gods have their eyes on you.

‘Congratulations’ You have earned Pain Resistance Level (1) You have experienced pain no normal person would.

‘Congratulations’ You have earned Fear Resistance Level (1) You have gazed into the eyes of a fearsome predator and lived.

‘Congratulations’ You have learnt the skill Archery Level (1) The more you level this skill the more familiar you are with a bow.

‘Congratulations’ You have learnt the skill Marksmanship Level (1) The more you level this skill the more power and accuracy you can put into a shot.

‘Congratulations’ You have learnt the skill Dagger Arts Level (1) The more you level this skill the more familiar you are with a dagger.

‘Congratulations’ You have learnt the spell Arcane Restoration Level (1) This is a very ancient type of healing using the arcane form to restore your or someone else's body. The more you level this spell the faster healing can take place. This spell has gone towards your classes.

You have levelled up Dagger Arts Level (2)

‘Congratulations’ you have levelled up. Level (1) (1 stat point available)

…

‘Congratulations’ you have levelled up Level (8) (8 stat points available)

'That's a lot of skills.' The young chimera thought. He could understand all the others but he had never heard of 'Arcane Restoration'. He racked his brain but just assumed it was because he was a troll. Morpheus has heard from books that trolls had fast regeneration rates.

Morpheus decided that his best bet was to increase his agility. Dodging that type of beast would be a must have in case he encountered another one, let alone a fully grown one. He put four points into agility. Then he dumped two in vitality and two into constitution. This time he pulled up his new status screen.

Name: Morpheus Nvos (14 Years Old)

Titles: Friend of Loki, Challenger II, Born to Kill Giants.

Origin: Unknown

Race: Chimera (Elf/Human/Troll)

Primary Class: None

Secondary Classes: None, None

Sub Classes: None, None, None

General Skills and Spells:

Spark Level (1)

Archery Level (1)

Marksmanship Level (1)

Dagger Arts Level (2)

Arcane Restoration Level (1)

Resistances

Pain Resistance Level (1)

Fear Resistance Level (1)

Current Status

Health: 270/440

Stamina:354/435

Mana:414/440

Stats

Strength: 20

Vitality: 16

Constitution: 23

Endurance: 14

Agility: 21

Dexterity: 15

Wisdom: 20

Intelligence: 21

Charisma: 23

Luck: 11

Morhpeus felt empowered, his wounds slowly closing on his face as he stood in awe of these new spells and skills. He got up, and pondered what he was going to do with this wreckon’s body. He thought there would be some sort of adventure guild like the ones in the stories. Morpheus walked over to the carcass and pulled the dagger out of its throat, plenty of blood following. All of a sudden Morpheus felt awful for what he had done but knew he slightly enjoyed it. Brushing the thought aside he took his blade and started to remove the razor sharp teeth and it’s ears, he threw up, spewing most of it on himself unfortunately.

‘Congratulations’ You have learnt the skill Butchering Level (1) The more you level this skill the easier it is to identify important parts of monsters and harvest them.

He didn’t expect to feel like this but the comfort of the modern world pushed away the harshness of reality. Gritting his teeth, Morpheus tried his best to harvest materials he thought would fetch a price, but Morpheus soon realised he had a magic pouch. He removed it from his waist and pushed it over to the body and willed the carcass into the bag. The bag then displayed its new contents.

Contents

-Self Refilling Water Skin

-1 Gold 40 Silver

-Wreckon Body

Morpheus felt relieved and dumped the external parts of the wreckon into the bag. Realizing he was covered in blood and body parts he stood up and began walking, hoping to find a river or pond.

Climbing the tree closest to him, he saw he was coming up upon where the colour of the trees turned to the normal green colour he was used to. Spotting what seemed to be a break in the trees Morpheus hurried down and broke into a jog.

Entering the green forest he saw a few long vines dropping from the higher branches near his head. The ends of the vines grew in a white flower which seemed to emit a faint white light.

‘Hanging White Lilies’ This vine usually prefers mana rich environments and grows off of the Oak Sow Tree. The flower emits a white light when night falls. This flower is often used in Elf funerals as they can retain their glow for up to twenty-four hours.

The hanging flower was beautiful. ‘If only Earth had things like this’ he thought.

Moving on and ducking under a few of the flowers he examined the closest tree.

‘Oak Sow Tree’ This tree is closely related to the Oak Tree, the most commonly found tree.

“Pretty basic, but at least I know that these are in Arios too” He said to himself.

Morpheus moved through the forest at a decent pace trying to follow the guidance system from his map. He was happy the clearing was in the same direction to Ervos.

After roughly an hour of travelling through the forest he found quite a large pond. He carefully approached at took a look over the edge, expecting a giant mutated fish. Thankfully, he only saw a few low level fish. Taking his clothes off and putting on his birthday suit, the chimera dived into the water feeling the cold water rush over him taking some of the blood away. He carried on washing himself and his clothes to get rid of the blood that was stained on his leather armour. He noticed that the cape Loki gave him did not have the tear in it from before, neither was there any blood at all covering it. He was very happy with the auto repair feature on it and used it to dry himself.

Putting his clothes back he got a notification from his stomach that he needed some food. So taking out the fresh carcass, he cut into what he thought was muscle and began to remove a thin long chunk. Arranging a small rotatory from the branches on the floor, he cast ‘Spark’ on the dead wood beneath it. Pushing a stick through the meat he placed it on the two ‘Y’ shaped sticks he found. Lighting a cigarette he sat down and thought again what he wanted to do with his life.

Procrastinating for twenty minutes he noticed the meat was ready and tucked into it. His teeth tore through the meat like candy floss and it was finished in less than a minute.

Morpheus was on his way again, looking to make as much headway as possible before night came. Night was about to fall when he spotted two horned hares.

(Horned Hare Adolescent, Level 19)

(Horned Hare Adolescent, Level 20)

Morpheus approached cautiously while drawing his bow, knowing that the horn was not used to pick berries. He let an arrow fly into the stronger hare’s head, killing it instantly. The other hare was startled not knowing what had happened, when another arrow slammed into its head. Another rush of energy invaded his body.

‘At least I levelled up without getting covered in blood’ Morpheus thought as some new notifications popped up.

Amazing! You have slain (Horned Hare, Level 20) Due to solo killing an enemy 10 levels above your own additional experience has been added.

Amazing! You have slain (Horned Hare, Level 19) Due to solo killing an enemy 10 levels above your own additional experience has been added.

You have levelled up Archery Level (2)

You have levelled up Marksmanship Level (2)

‘Congratulations’ You have levelled up Level (9) (1 stat point available)

…

‘Congratulations’ You have levelled up Level (12) (4 stat points available)

Feeling the rush he bent down to put the two bodies in his magic pouch. Not yet feeling safe enough, he put three points into vitality and one point in endurance, feeling he should try and balance out his stats.

Current Status

Health: 490/505

Stamina:560/585

Mana:414/440

Stats

Strength: 20

Vitality: 19

Constitution: 23

Endurance: 15

Agility: 21

Dexterity: 15

Wisdom: 20

Intelligence: 21

Charisma: 23

Luck: 11

Morpheus was shocked at how much his stamina went up by just one point. He assumed it would probably go up a lot because endurance is directly related to stamina, but he had no idea it would go up this much. Morpheus then realised he wasn’t human and it all finally made sense.

He turned to shoot up a tree, checking where the sun was to determine what time the sun set. Jumping through the trees trying to find a reasonable place to sleep as sleeping on the floor did not sound like a good idea. The thought of having a horn ram through made him shudder. The chimera found what seemed to be a broken giant bird nest. There were no signs of eggs and it was half destroyed which made Morpheus feel more safe. As he laid down he drowned himself in his cloak and easily fell asleep just before sunset. The half day he spent in Arios felt like an eternity.