SJ dreamed of her dad coming upstairs to wake her for school as a child.
“SJ. Time to get up.”
SJ rolled over, pulling the quilt tight over her head.
“SJ. Time to get up.”
Her dad’s voice drifted into her sleep-filled mind.
“SJ, GET UP,” Dave shouted.
SJ sat bolt upright. “What is it?” looking around, bleary-eyed and panicking.
“It is morning,” Dave said.
“Morning. Does it really matter what the time is? I was sleeping?” SJ growled.
“You don’t want to waste the day. We have levels to gain and should also head to town.”
SJ stretched and yawned. Then, noticing her stomach felt strange. She ran from the immediate area.
A few minutes later, she returned to the large rock holding her tender-feeling stomach. “That was unpleasant.”
“Berries. You ate a mountain of them yesterday.”
“You could have warned me of the effect.”
“You never asked.”
“Don’t even think about starting that again. Yesterday was bad enough.”
“I can’t really be blamed. Having never had a fae before, I could not be certain of the effect they would have on you.”
“Mmmhmm.”
“I haven’t,” Dave said innocently.
“Has there ever been a race not affected by those berries?”
“Ermm”
“That would be a no then. Does that not give you enough foresight to have warned me?”
“Perhaps. You would have been fine if you had also eaten other stuff.”
“What other stuff? You only mentioned the berries.”
“You didn’t..”
“DON’T,” SJ huffed. She stomped through the grass again.
“Where are you going?”
SJ stopped. She had been walking away from Dave. Shaking her head at the realisation, she looked to the sky and sighed.
“You do realise that sometimes you can be very annoying,” SJ said.
“No one has ever told me that before.”
“Really?”
“Well, I do not normally speak to the other Legionnaires I have been associated with.”
“Why not?”
“They never talked to me. They just used to make decisions, and then I would give them info, and they would usually make more stupid decisions.”
“Why have you been speaking to me then?” SJ asked, confused.
“You are interesting.”
“Why am I interesting?”
“You rejected the terms and conditions for a start.”
“I didn’t reject them. I waived them after the System said I had to so that I could save you.”
“Yeah, but a normal person would have just accepted what they said and taken a new AI.”
“There are moments I question my decision.”
Silence.
“So, you think most would have just taken a new AI and left you in purgatory?” SJ asked.
“Definitely. Most of the Legionnaires I have ever been with are all about them and don’t care about anything else.”
“They don’t work together?”
“Yes, there are guilds and stuff, but it’s always a hierarchy and someone sitting at the top pulling the strings.”
“I can join a guild?”
“You can, or you can start one if you want to. They cost 200 gold to form, but you must be level 20 as well.”
“I am a long way from level 20, yet never mind finding that sort of money.”
“You realise with the three silver you got from the badger. You will be one of the more well-off in the starter town.”
“Really?”
“I told you five coppers would get you a meal and a room if they have space. Three silver is 300 coppers, so you could stay there for 60 nights and eat daily. Most Legionnaires leave the starter zone within a couple of weeks after reaching level 10, and most will not even see a silver coin during that time.”
SJ had not even considered the value of the silver coins she had earned. She now had 22 coppers and 3 silver coins from all the hoglings.
“Talking about making money and growing. My inventory is full of light leather strips.”
“You can combine them.”
“Combine them how?”
“On your inventory screen is a little icon that looks like a house.”
“I thought that just meant that the storage was full.”
“If you select it, you can combine strips into strips of the next level of leather. They have increased rarity. You need ten of each for each step. Ten light pieces of leather make one regular, ten regular make one good, ten good make one rare, ten rare make one epic, all the way to legendary.”
“Materials are the same as everything else then.”
“Yes. All the professions follow the same basis for variants.”
SJ focused on her inventory, where she saw the little house symbol next to the light leather strips. She concentrated on it, and a message appeared.
Would you like to combine your light leather strips into regular leather? Yes/No
SJ selected Yes and was greeted with another message.
Congratulations, you have gained a regular leather strip.
She looked at the next stack of ten and did the same again, receiving a message.
Congratulations, you have gained two regular leather strips.
Looking at her inventory, she now had three regular leather strips.
“Er. Dave?”
“Yes?”
“Have you seen this?”
“Oooooo. Another anomaly. Will anything be normal with you?”
“I should not have ended up with three, should I?”
“No. You should have one for each set of ten, so have two regular leathers now to replace them.”
“So, I have a chance of getting more materials! That could make farming much easier.”
“These are just basic materials, though. The rarer materials could make a ridiculous difference if they work the same.”
SJ was so glad she had played the System and waived the terms and conditions. She smiled broadly.
“Do you have wind again?”
SJ ignored Dave’s comment, rolling her eyes. She was still in miniature form from her sleep and decided to try flapping her wings. Concentrating on the muscles in her back, she tightened and loosened them. She began to feel her wings moving and could feel the draft they created. It was strange, and her muscles ached. After several faster beats, she felt her heels lift slightly.
Dave chuckled. “Nearly there,” Dave said encouragingly, realising what she was doing.
SJ concentrated and beat them faster, and her muscles were now burning. Her feet very slowly lifted from the ground. As they did, she fell forward face-first into the grass, only stopping her face from being squished by throwing her arms out.
“Damn.”
“It takes practice. It looks like you need to lean back as you beat your wings.”
SJ sighed, standing back up and repeating the beating process, picking up speed until her feet felt lighter. Rather than leaning forward as she had, she slowly leaned back against the force from the wings. As the weight began to lessen and her feet lifted, she hovered uncertainly, no more than a foot from the ground. Her muscles screamed, and she stopped beating her wings and dropped heavily back to the ground.
“That is tiring.” SJ groaned, rolling her shoulders, trying to release the tension.
“I can’t advise. I don’t know about fae’s muscle structure.”
“There must be a knack to it. It can’t be that difficult, or fae would just fall out of the sky or have back muscles that make them look more like barbarians.”
“Maybe there is someone in the village who can advise you. In starter towns, there is usually a racial representative for each main race. Although finding a fae may be difficult due to their reputations.”
“Now you tell me!”
“You didn’t..”
“Ask!” SJ sighed.
“I guess I also need to find higher-level monsters to fight. I am not going to spend a whole day fighting hoglings again. Especially now I am level 3.”
“Yes, we definitely need to find a new farm spot. I suggest heading towards town. We have quite a trek through the woods around the lake, and we may find something on the route.”
“Okay,” SJ replied, growing into her large form. “What happens to this safe zone when I leave the area?”
“I have no idea. I have never returned to a safe zone once you are out of an immediate area. I assume it returns to normal land, but only the System could confirm that.”
“Well, I doubt I will return to this place once I leave if the monsters are so low a level here.”
“Monsters should scale, so you shouldn’t have to travel too far.”
SJ set off following the edge of the lake and the forest. SJ had not considered how large the lake was or how small the town looked; it had to be a fair distance. The sun was rising, and looking at her display, it was 06:35. The sun was warm, the skies were clear blue, and the forest was coming to life—birds tweeting and creatures moving in the forest. SJ felt great. She checked her character sheet as she walked, getting quite used to the overlay being visible with its transparency.
Looking through her attributes, she decided to balance them as discussed with Dave. She selected to add one to Strength and Wisdom, moving both up to 8. These two extra points at each level would make a massive difference if they continued.
“Dave. Is there a way to filter certain details on the display?”
“Yes. The displays can be configured. At higher levels, you can also use pre-defined configurations that guilds use or some vendors sell.”
“Display configurations are sold?”
“At a higher level, yes. A good configuration can bring in much money if it eases combat procedures. They are regularly on sale at the auction houses.”
“Auction houses, you have not mentioned those before.”
“They are level 20 minimum and only available in the larger townships.”
“Why do they limit so much to certain levels?”
“Honestly, many do not even make it to level 5. Even though there are thousands of Legionnaires compared to the world’s population, they are tiny in number. You know your Legionnaire number, so it gives you an idea.”
“Why do they not make it to level 5?”
“Silly mistakes when so few hit points.” SJ imagined Dave shrugging his shoulders as he replied.
SJ considered the number now Dave mentioned it. “So, I was the 25007077th Legionnaire to arrive here.”
“Yes.”
“How often do new Legionnaires arrive?”
“No idea, but not as frequently as they used to. That is one of the reasons the System changed the rules to no longer include extreme sports or various hobbies. They really tightened up on their definition of accidental death. You would be amazed at the number of people who ended up here due to rock climbing or skiing accidents.”
“How many are on Amathera currently? Do you know?”
Silence.
A few moments passed before Dave replied. “124357”
“That is less than I thought you were going to say.”
“As I said, it is harder to get here now.”
“What is the highest-level Legionnaire?”
“Last shout, it was 89.”
“Wow. Has anyone ever reached 100?”
“No. Never. If you reached 100, you would be one of the most powerful in Amathera.”
“What about the monsters then and other races?”
“There are several near 100. There are rumoured to be a few over 100, but I have never seen one. The highest I met was King Brezian, who ruled one of the other continents. He was level 96. I have seen several monsters in the high 80s and once a dragon at 94. That blue on the mountain is high.”
“How high?”
“It was 88.”
“I thought when you said you needed to be 50 plus to go to the northern territories. I thought it would be level 60 or so.”
“No, it is one of the largest blues I have ever seen, if not the largest.”
SJ turned, looking at the peak in the distance. The dragon’s form could still be seen. The forest was lively, and SJ could see a group of deer drinking further along the lake’s edge. She stopped and stood watching the beautiful creatures as they drank and grazed. She continued to watch them for a while before Dave interrupted her.
“Why are we waiting?” Dave asked.
“To let them finish eating and drinking. Why do you think?”
“They will probably stay there all day unless disturbed.”
“I thought deer moved on after drinking.”
“You are not on earth, remember. Those deer will probably spend all day there.”
SJ frowned, looking at them. The small herd consisted of eight. Looking at the makeup, three were males, larger with differing-shaped antlers, and five were females, with no young. SJ had no idea what type they were, and she was too far away to trigger her identification skill. She had begun to move towards the herd when a deep growl came from the forest.
“Oh no,” Dave said.
“What do you mean, oh, no? What is it?”
“Sounds like a wolf.”
“There are wolves here?”
“Wolves are everywhere. Most are loners, though very few live in packs unless a dire wolf is nearby.”
“Wolves don’t attack people.”
“You are in Amathera now and technically are no longer a person, remember.”
The thought of a wolf made SJ’s nerves flare. She watched the small herd as the head of one of the males picked up and turned, looking into the forest. The other deer stopped drinking, and within moments, they began to run. Straight in the direction she was standing. They were a couple of hundred feet from her and closing fast when a large, grey-furred beast tore from the forest, heading towards the herd. The wolf was enormous. It had to be nearly three feet at its shoulder, and it snapped its jaws as it ran towards the nearest deer. A female was struggling to keep up with the fleeing herd. The wolf caught up, attacking the lagging doe, biting into its rear leg and pulling it down.
SJ screamed at it. “Get off,” as she began to run towards it. The deer heading towards her veered off either side.
“What are you doing?” Dave asked.
“Saving the deer,” SJ said, sprinting past the first fleeing deer towards the wolf. She triggered identification. Her display flashed with information from the deer and wolf in her sight.
Amatherean Doe Level 3
Hitpoints - 13
Mana - 0
Attacks - Nil
Amatherean Buck Level 4
Hitpoints - 30
Mana - 0
Attacks - Gore
Grey Wolf Level 4
Hitpoints - 45
Mana - 0
Attacks - Claws/Bite
“Leave her alone,” SJ screamed as she equipped her claws, charging towards the wolf.
