Chapter 2,

I get out of the pond and put my clothes back on.

No more exp will be gained by catching beginner level fish.

You need a class first before getting the fisherman profession.

You are level 8 now. 16 stat points can be allotted. It is recommended to allot them as soon as possible, so as to not lose strength.

One level gives 2 stat points. If I had to guess, one for attack and one for defense. But I can’t really allot them right now since I don’ know what would be useful in combat.

I had been fishing practically the whole day and caught about 100 fish. It’s about nighttime now, the sky has already started to darken. But I don’t feel like it should be past 6 or 7 pm, is this place near the equator?

I should either explore a bit more or head back towards the temple to get that weapon.

Let’s explore for now.

I take the makeshift trident with me. But none of the fish. I let them all free, even if they were going to survive or not. Cause I can’t use any of those fish. It’s a quite intuitive fear of eating it because they just contain so many random spines that might get stuck in my throat. Even if I’m stronger in this world, that concern doesn’t go away.

I move away from the pond, vaguely towards the direction of the town and the temple.

As I’m walking through the trees, I notice a sound and stop.

I look around myself careful to not make any noise.

I spot something moving through the bushes vaguely.

Monster: Wulf, spotted (Estimated level 5)

Since you were able to notice it without it being aware of you, there is an opportunity for a sneak attack.

Sneak attack and kill the enemy in one hit for an opportunity to get more hints about the Assassin class.

Assassin class? Now I feel the lack of a real weapon. This trident can’t possibly kill that wolf in one hit. I need to think of another way.

That wolf seems to be lazing around in the bush, sniffing it occasionally. Maybe that bush has something special in it? That would make sense if it is dulling the wolf’s senses, thus it not smelling me first.

I pick up a fist sized rock and very stealthily climb the tree near me. A rock is better than no weapon at all. The wolf is about 5 meters away. I could make it there in one leap.

I sit atop a branch on the tree and look towards the wolf. Throwing it wouldn’t guarantee the kill.

Oh well, no other options really. I jump towards the bush behind which the wolf is at. Using all my strength I bash the rock towards its head.

A health bar pops above the wolf, it’s down by about 90%. So close.

The wolf jerks up and tries to bite towards me, but using my earlier momentum from the jump, I grapple it onto the ground.

As it’s growling towards me as I hold its claws, I have a sudden urge to do something.

I hold one of its claws with my hand and use it to hit the wolf’s head, managing to completely overpower the wolf somehow.

“Stop hitting yourself.” I say as I burst out laughing. I couldn’t control myself. I’ve seen it so many times in those movies.

I continue till the eventual bleeding from the scratches finally kill the wolf.

Surprisingly there isn’t much remorse in me even after killing such an animal, even though it’s a game, odd that I don’t feel anything at all.

Or maybe it’s just my dislike for dogs. They’re so enviably active. I always liked cats more, since they at least didn’t move as much and were more chill. Or wouldn’t by that standards, a fish be the best? Since it can’t really move outside the fish tank.

Monster: Wulf defeated.

You won without incurring any damage by the enemy, 20% extra Exp awarded.

You have gained 600 Exp. (current level 8, 200 exp left till level 9)

Evade an attack 5 times to get more information about the Duelist and Ranger classes.

Duelist? By evading an attack, I suppose it’s an evasion type class? Or at least a class whose defense is primarily evading the attack. Same with the Ranger one I guess.

The Wulf did not drop anything.

The enemy you defeated was too weak to drop anything useful. Try to beat stronger enemies for a better drop.

It didn’t drop anything? Lies.

I pick up a stone on the ground that was relatively sharp and use it to cut the flesh around the wolf’s rear leg.

I needed to grind it a little bit but eventually I managed to separate the leg bone from its body and also removed the flesh stuck to the bone.

Maybe after being in a hospital for so long I’ve become desensitized to gore? How come I never realized that before?

After carefully grinding away at the bone in my hand, finally the tip of the bone becomes sharp enough to be of use.

It’s way past nightfall now. But something inside me just made me want to prove the system wrong.

Though, to their credit, the game was realistic enough for me to be able to do this at all.

Bone spike created for the first time.

300 Exp gained.

You are now level 9.

Show your creation to the town craftsman to know more about the Craftsman and Blacksmith professions.

Those are professions? A bit different than classes I suppose. I look towards the bone spike in my hand.

Bone Spike (Player-crafted)

Mainly a throwing weapon. Requires basic mastery of thrown weapons to use properly.

Increases damage by 10-15 points.

However, could also be used as a dagger in a pinch.

Increasing damage by 15-20 points.

So, according to the game it’s a throwing weapon. Fair enough. Its ‘handle’ if you can call it that, would indeed be quite awkward to use as a dagger.

There was another thing that was a little intriguing.

Even though there isn’t much light, with the moon being the only source, I take a leaf from the bush and look at it carefully.

I might know nothing about it from just that, nor could I smell anything special from it. However, that wolf certainly found something about it special.

You know about an herb that a wolf found interesting.

Finding out how things work is the principle of research.

300 Exp gained.

Continue finding out about more plants to know more about the Herbalist and Alchemy professions.

So, it is a special bush somehow.

I take a leaf and then crush it in my hands then smell it. Its scent is a bit stronger now but still not enough to make any further guesses.

I bite the leaf and then chew it for a while, before putting the whole leaf in my mouth and chewing for a while and letting the juices flow.

You feel refreshed.

You have found an herb that has a calming effect on the mind.

300 Exp gained.

A calming effect, at least for a human. I probably should have washed that leaf first before chewing it. I spit it out and then get up, keeping that bone spike in my hand and started walking towards the town, using the minimap.

Just as I’m about to exit the forest and be within eyeshot of the city, I see 2 reddish lights, from a torch heading towards my way.

I climb onto the nearest tree, my prior practice allowing me to climb even quicker this time. There was no particuar reason to hide though, assuming that it's humans approaching.

The 2 lights pass by from near me and I hear the voices of two people.

“The priest sure was quite worked up.”

“Yeah, I wonder who that guy is that escaped into the forest, making the priest tell us to search so late in the night.”

“I bet it was a criminal.”

“Yeah, he most likely stole something from the temple.”

“If we find him, we should beat him till he’s half-dead and then bring him back. The guards captain would surely reward us then.”

“Yeah, great idea.”

Maybe it’s not such a good idea to head back into the town for now. Though it could just be these 2 guards jumping to conclusions, it most probably is that they’re overthinking it.

But if the guards do notice me, things could get unnecessarily hard.

I look towards them as they walk away while chatting.

Town Guard spotted. (estimated level 25)

More information unavailable.

You are highly unlikely to be able to defeat this opponent in your current state.

It is recommended to acquire a class first.

By now I think the game made it pretty clear that I’m practically powerless right now without a class.

I wait a while more till the lights from the torches disappear into the distance and then slowly get down from the tree.

The levelling is fast enough though I suppose. It probably takes around a day to reach level 20 and get a class. Maybe it would have been faster if I just followed the steps it laid down for me in the quest.

But I don’t regret it at all. That wouldn’t be any fun.

And I could just go back there later. The quest didn’t have any time limit.

Okay, so for now to head back towards that pond. It’s probably changed in the night.

Rather than using the minimap to look for the pond or the direction, I use the stars to locate which direction the pond was at. Or more specifically, the moon. It has a gentle bluish hue around it.

Even if I do look at the stars, I have no idea what the constellations are and which star would be the north star.

I let out a light sigh. Truly we stand on the shoulders of giants. Giants who did the research before us and we’re just building upon it. I don’t have the time to observe the night sky here, however beautiful it might be, and try to find a pattern which might not even exist.

They surely had loads of imagination, to think that a bunch of squiggly lines connecting random stars possibly looks like a lion, but not also look like a unicorn, or a dog, or any four-legged animal ever.

As I reach beside the pond without anything suddenly popping out of the darkness to attack me, I notice the surface of the pond seems slightly different.

It is somehow, a crimson shade? A blue one would have made sense because of the bluish moonlight but a red one just seems odd.

I feel like taking another dip in it. While the slightly more cautious part of me says it’ll be really cold and I’ll probably freeze, my intuition says otherwise.

I take off my clothes once again, throwing them aside and just in my underwear, jump into the pond, with the bone spike in hand.

The water is kind of warm. There’s no fish or any other lifeform here either. I certainly remember it having plenty of life a while before.

I hold my breath and dive in deeper.

I open my eyes and see that there’s something down at the floor of the pond, however blurry it is.

I go closer to it and touch it. It’s like a handle or something.

You have discovered an instance dungeon.

Crimson pond under the blue moonlight.

It will be renamed to its actual one when its purpose is found out.

300 Exp gained.

Continue exploring and finding new places to get hints about Exploring and Mapping professions.

You are now level 10. With 20 stat points left unallotted. It is highly recommended to allot them now.

Since it insists so much, I open up the stats menu, after getting back to the surface of water.

Chris Val

Level: 10 (900 exp left)

HP: 100 of 100

MP: 50 of 50

FS: 80 of 100

Hit: 15-20 (Bone spike equipped.)

Str: 10 (+)

Con: 10 (+)

Int: 5 (+)

Res: 5 (+)

Spd: 10 (+)

Crit: 10 (+)

(20 stats left to allot now, select the plus icon.)

Mov Spd: 100%

Luk: 10

…Show Details… (The detailed view is currently unavailable.)

I still don’t really feel like allotting them right now. I feel like there must be some other way, so I stall for time, trying to click on things other than the plus signs.

You have not allotted any stats for 10 minutes.

Would you like the game to randomly allot stats for you?

Yes / No.

Well, even the game is suggesting to select it. Perhaps letting it do that would be better than to allot it myself. Since it has access to information I don’t. It might make a better choice.

It’s also what my instincts are saying, and I’ll follow it even though it said it would do it ‘randomly’. I select ‘Yes’.

Stats have been allotted for you.

HP: 110 of 110

MP: 55 of 55

FS: 105 of 125

Str: 15 *

Con: 11 *

Int: 6 *

Res: 8 *

Spd: 15 *

Crit: 15 *

That looks fine I suppose. Though it kind of seems all over the place.

I take a deep breath and dive back down towards the floor of the pond and grasp at that handle.

Would you like to enter the instance dungeon?

The recommended level is 15. It is not recommended to attempt it now.

Are you sure you want to enter the dungeon?

Yes / No.

I use my other hand to select ‘Yes’.

The surroundings go dark as I’m transported to the inside of the dungeon.