I was ready to go deep into the forest. I thought myself: I do not have a class and I don’t know any fighting techniques. I'm weak as a newborn baby, and moreover, I am unarmed and unprotected. I was aware of this, after examining the style of my clothing: unfortunately, both garments offered zero protection. It seemed to me that it would be better for me not to leave the initial location for some time. I have always been quick to make decisions, so I decided to start exercising right away. I started with the simplest exercise: I did 10 push-ups, but on the 10th push-up I received a message.

Level of Fatigue: 10/10, you are exhausted.

I told myself that if I couldn’t do anything more, then I should take another look at my attributes. As soon as I thought about this, the system brought up a data screen for me, and I immediately asked for the most detailed information.

True Name: Marten.

Name in the world is: Dee.

Race: Newcomer.

Path: not selected.

Class: not selected.

Skills: not selected.

Professions: not selected (3 available).

Basic characteristics:

“Strength”: 1 - the ability to carry up to 1 kg

(Parameter of 10 * to the “Strength” agility). Affects many actions, including attack;

“Agilities”: 2 - evasion from physical attacks and throwing weapons 0.2% (Parameter of 0.1% * “Agility”). Affects many actions, including the chance of striking a critical blow;

“Stamina”: 1 - the life energy of the character 10 lives (Parameter of 10 * “Stamina”). A affects many actions, including those taken into account in resistance;

“Intellect”: 1 - the magical energy of the character 10 manna.

(Parameter of 1 *“Intellect”). Affects many actions, including magical damage;

“Attentiveness”: 1 - gives a chance to notice something invisible, a chance (hidden).

Abilities:

“Herbalist” (1%), Beginner level. Confers ability to see names, determine scope and collect better quality herbs, mushrooms, roots and berries.

No surprises there: a minimum amount of information and the rest was a mystery. The program was written so that a player could find his way around by himself. That was even better, as far as I was concerned. I do not like it when everything is done for me. I prefer to be spontaneous and to experiment.

Also, as it turned out, I had something like an invisible bag with a capacity of 50 items, but the only thing in the bag so far was a jar of red liquid. The inscription on the label read: “mild medicinal drink restores up to 100 life points”.

I did not think about what I was doing. I tried to grab it with my hand, without really knowing where the bag was, and somehow I managed. How clever to come up with such an idea. It's good that I managed to locate it, as it appears that this was part of the knowledge that the fairy in the initial location was supposed to give to me, but that was now no longer available to me. Well, it’s not the end of the world, I’ll figure something out, and I’m not a kid anymore.

At this point, the level of fatigue showed zero. So I repeated another 10 push-ups, and received a bonus as expected.

Your “Stamina” has increased: +1 (2).

Immediately after this, the level of fatigue went back down to zero. I did not even get up, but continued doing push-ups. I spent several hours alternating between push-ups and thinking about my future plans. During this time my “Strength” increased by 3, reaching a level of 4, and “Stamina” received an additional 3, reaching a level of 5. If I continued to do only push-ups, then soon I would be having nightmares about them. I needed to diversify my exercise regime somehow, and I certainly didn’t want to go back to doing push-ups any time soon. During the push-ups, I decided that the best thing to do would be to walk around the outskirts of the initial location in the forest. So, firstly, I could begin to get used to this world, and secondly, I definitely wouldn’t get lost.

Sticking to my well thought out plan, I went deep enough into the forest, so that I could still see the meadow that was the site of my initial arrival location without straining my vision, and I began to circle around it.

I can’t say that walking through the forest was easy going. I was constantly being caught by branches and stumbling over tree roots. Many of the bushes were spiky.

My “Life” level was somewhere around 35 and it hadn’t had enough time to reach maximum.

For the first couple of hours, I was just walking through the forest. I enjoyed every moment, discovering new smells and studying the colors that I liked most. Thanks to the "Three Senses" ability given by the Voice, I saw and felt the definitions of colors and scents. It was not entirely clear to me how it worked, as there were no captions, I just knew anyway. For instance, which scent smelled sharp, or that something was a deep red massak color.

During my exploration, the only thing I found was four beams of a strange plant the color of a bog, structurally reminiscent of moss. This raised my “Herbalist” ability by 0.5% (1.5%). That was my only success.

Deciding to speed up a little and therefore to pump up my “Stamina” and “Skills”, I went on a light jog, for which I immediately paid a price. I tripped over a very large root at full speed, and I smashed my forehead against a big tree, something like a maple.

You have received damage: -15 Life points (down to 20).

Enough is enough! This does not feel like a game at all, it's all quite like life in the real world. I was angry with myself; everything I was doing was pedestrian, and not at all productive. I got up automatically and went on my way, gently putting my feet where there were no tree roots, and trying not to get caught up in the branches. Gradually, I got into a rhythm, and continued walking, almost on autopilot. Suddenly a system message appeared in front of me.

You have discovered the “Easy Pace” skill. Your level is Beginner (1).

I stopped for a moment in total surprise. Did the game creators develop skills and abilities for everything that can be learned in the real world, and this is not something limited by class, but can be learned by anyone?

If so, it fundamentally changed everything. Deciding on the spot to test my theory, I began walking, paying attention not only to how I walked, but also to the amount of noise made by my movement through the forest. About twenty-five minutes later, when I had almost lost hope, a message came up, which I had been waiting for.

You have discovered the “Silent Step” agility. Your level is Beginner (1).

At the same time my “Easy pace” agility received +2 (3). Well, now I was absolutely sure that anything was possible in this world. Kiyoshi, you are a genius! I was in awe at how the dynamics of development had been worked out! I was so inspired by my success and the possibilities of the game that I almost forgot about the threat of being thrown out of the beta test.

The long forgotten excitement of being a player was awakened within me. Up until now the opportunity to smell scents, see colors and taste flavors, was the most important thing to me. Speaking about taste, it was now evening and I had done nothing to obtain food or find a place to sleep. Without me noticing, dusk had fallen over the forest. There were no stars in the sky, but according to my internal body clock, the first star would appear in an hour or an hour and a half.

You have discovered a new agility: “Internal Body Clock”. Your level is Beginner (1).

So, it would appear that this is one of the additional feelings that we were told about at the conference, and it's a very useful agility. Mentally, I wanted to know what the time was. The system reported that it was now evening. Originally, I was amused by the humor of the developers: so far this was the only agility that I had attained, and that was it.

I decided to continue on, but on the way I paid attention to finding food and a place to stay overnight. Walking past a certain bush, I noticed a strange fruit on the ground, reminiscent of an acorn, only black and without a hat.

Your “Attentiveness” ability has increased: +1 (2).

Just a little thing, but nice all the same. I picked up the fruit. To my surprise, the fruit was very heavy: putting it in my bag, I estimated its weight to be as much as 200 grams. I wasn’t sure if I was going to eat it, but it could prove useful to me as a throwing weapon. After skirting around all the bushes I could see, I collected eleven more fruits. At the same time, my “Attentiveness” level increased by one point and reached three.

In search of the plant on which these fruits grow, I began to look at the crowns of the trees surrounding me. On one of them, I noticed a large beautiful lemon-yellow fruit, shaped like a strawberry. I was sorry that I didn’t have a stick to knock it down with. Potentially, this was the first edible fruit that I had come across. So, I pulled out a couple of acorns, took aim and launched them one at a time in the direction of the fruit. The first missed by fifty centimeters, the second was ten centimeters closer. One by one, I threw all my weapons, never once hitting the target. Searching the ground, where the acorns had fallen, I could only find a dozen. I returned to my previous position and continued shooting. This time, the fourth attempt was successful, and the fruit fell to the ground. The system appreciated my success:

Your “Agility” attribute has increased: +1.

You have discovered the “Thrown Weapon” agility. Your level is Beginner (1).

You have discovered the “Accuracy” agility: +1.

Picking up the fruit and collecting my weapons, I decided it was time to try my trophy. I cautiously bit off a small piece: a delicious, slightly sweetish fruit. My head felt somewhat dizzy. I had never experienced anything like it in my life.

Your “Herbalist” attribute has increased: +1% (2.5%).

You have been affected: +10 on the fatigue scale (50 + 10 from the fruit). You have 1 hour.

Your cravings for food are 90%.satisfied

Wow, it looks like food can have an effect, and it was no surprise that I had started to feel slightly hungry. It appeared that eating in this game is compulsory. I wondered, what about the rest of the body's needs? I don’t need to do anything just yet, but what do I do if I’m desperate? I finished eating my fruit, and I began to look around the trees, for similar trees to the one on which I found it. My reward was to find another big yellow “strawberry” fruit.

Your “Attentiveness” ability has increased: +1 (4).

I was fascinated as to why my agilities were increasing so rapidly. I wondered, would it always be so or only in the initial stages? Most likely, the latter. Well, I would have to wait and see. I began the usual bombardment. This time I knocked down the fruit at the ninth attempt.

“Thrown Weapon”: +1 (2).

“Accuracy: +1 (2).

This time, no points were given for “Agility”, but you can’t win them all. At least I had another fruit that could be eaten in the morning. After picking up the fruit, I received a message.

Your “Herbalist” ability has increased: +0.5% (2.5%).

Looking closer at the “strawberry”, I realized that now I knew its name and characteristics: Yellow fruit of the forest. It is used in potions and for cooking, and it is edible raw.

“Well then, yellow fruit of the forest, it’s nice to meet you,” I smiled, stroking the fruit.

Suddenly I was aware that something had changed, but the feeling quickly passed. I put the fruit into my bag, and continued to stroll around the initial location.

As things turned out, the meadow, which I had left so unsuccessfully, was on the way out. The rest of the arrival location stretched behind the negligent fairy’s meadow. If I calculated the distances correctly, then with my slow movement I had not yet passed a quarter of the way round.

Darkness inevitably replaced the daylight, so from being mysterious, the forest became quite scary, even though I knew that I was in a fairly safe location. According to the High Fairy, if I didn’t do anything stupid, then I had nothing to fear. The question was: what is considered stupidity as far as the local monsters go and how bored might they be? With my agility and attributes, I was more like a toy than a threat.

Deciding that I had come far enough for one day, I found a place to sleep. It was a big tree, the trunk of which separated out into three large branches about a meter off the ground, and formed something like a nest. I collected some big, incredibly strong and almost straight burdocks, and I created something like a bed. Then I collected some soft grass which grew nearby, and made a pillow out of it. No sooner had I finished fluffing up my future pillow, when the system sent a message:

You have created an uncomfortable bed.

You have discovered the “Scout” ability. Beginner level (1%).

How strange. Usually Scouts know quite a lot about this field, so I wondered how this new ability would develop. In any case, it’s a useful ability, and it was good that I discovered it myself, without the need for any instructor.

Despite a lot of discomfort, I still managed to get settled on my new bed without fear of falling off when I was asleep. Since I wasn’t provided with a sleeping bag, I curled up and covered myself with a pair of hard burdocks. I lay there but could not sleep. Although it was dark now, for me, even in this darkness, there were many amazing and new shades of color. I took in these shades and gave them names, peering at each twig and every crevice in the tree. The smells were also simply extraordinary, and although I could not compare them to something from the real world, in some strange way, every time I caught a scent, I could associate it with a tree, grass or flower.

Attentiveness: +1 (5).

Unfortunately, when this message popped up it disturbed my line of thought, and I couldn’t go back. I was so exhausted psychologically that I don’t recall how I fell asleep.