《Age Of Gods》 1 A new age begins , What is it with this shouting this early in the morning?" thought Novak while he was nearing the classroom. When he opened the door and entered inside he heard exited students talking in loud voices, not even noticing him as he was walking to his desk. , Hey, did you buy a helmet yet?" - asked one student his friend. , Of course, I saved money from my part-time job. I bought it yesterday, and you?" , My parents bought it for me, for my birthday last week, I thought I was dreaming when they gave it to me. What do you think, do you want to play the game together with me?" , Sure. We should invite more guys from the class to play together." This was just one of the conversations in the classroom, all the students were talking about the same thing. , Age of Gods", these were the most used words in the classroom right now. Novak thought to himself and then remembered. , Oh yeah, how did I forget, Age of Gods" is being released tonight. I even bought a helmet a couple days ago. I waited ten years for it, finally, it''s here." , Age of Gods" is the newest, biggest and the most immersive VRMMORPG to date. How do I know this? Everyone knows it. That is what game officials told to the entire world. And they were repeating that same sentence last ten years. But that isn''t new, every game developer says the same right? Well, in this case, it is true. Especially with the trailer, they released half a year ago. That video was the most watched game trailer ever. Thunder roaring, volcanoes erupting, seas shaking that was the only tip of the iceberg. And there was even an iceberg in it. 10 times bigger than the one which sank Titanic. Well, that for sure wasn''t the only reason why I waited 10 years. The creator of this game is famous Thomas Mayer. When I say famous I mean super famous, like a worldwide star. He became worldwide famous only when the world heard how much money he invested in the game. It was billions. Before that he was only famous in our historical circles, he was, The" archeologist, and made his name known because he found a hell of a lot of historical sites across the world. He is an enormous mythology fanatic, and that is why he gathered mythology experts from around the world and sponsored the best programmers and designers to make the best game ever. One of those experts was my late grandpa, he was an expert in Slavic mythology, so it was natural that he was invited. He was the one who made me fall in love with all the gods and goddesses with his stories when I was a kid, and that is the main reason why I am a history professor and work with these ungrateful children. They never show any interest in history, only now when there is a game about it ... Well who am I kidding, the only thing they are interested in is killing monsters with swords and magic. Even my generation wasn''t interested in history. Mythology? That was the even worse case. Ironically I was the only one. No wonder I was called, Nerd no.1" of, Nerdy Trio". , So did you have enough time to chat?" still, they haven''t noticed me. , Sorry professor" said class president when everyone finally found out that I am in the classroom,, we are all excited about, Age of Gods", it is coming out this evening". , Have you heard of it professor?" asked the student in the back of the classroom. , Of course, I heard of it" I answered, I am only 10 years older than you guys, and I don''t live under a rock." , Ha ha ha ha ha ha" entire class burst into a laughter. Good thing that they at least find me interesting and funny, otherwise trying to teach them anything would be hell. , All right, all right everyone, let''s start with the class. Since all of you find the game interesting, there will be a small test next week about ancient gods and heroes. Before you start complaining I will tell you that the ones who have more than 80% right will get a reward." , What is a reward professor?" asked the diligent girl in the first row. , Well" I said, I still haven''t decided yet. You just have to worry about the test and I will worry about the reward." Like any of them will make 80%. , Let us begin now...." Five classes and one afternoon later I finally found myself in a professors lounge. Every class was talking about, Age of Gods", so I thought that professors will be the same. Of course not. Most of my colleagues were older people, they wouldn''t think about playing games. But not all of them are older, there are a couple of them my age. For example, two beautiful ladies entering the lounge now, and of course that big guy who is always behind them. One of the two beautiful ladies is professor Maria, if you saw her outside the school you would think she is a model for one of the famous brands around the world and not a teacher. She is two years my junior, only 25 years old, on high heels she is tall as I am, black glossy hair, a little darker tan, beautiful almost emerald eyes, full lips, white shirt, and black dress, even without makeup she looked absolutely stunning. When she came to school this year everyone was thinking why isn''t she a model instead of a math teacher. Well, that is what I thought, and probably rest of the staff too. The shy looking lady next to her, professor Anna was another addition to the staff this year. That was one of the reasons why they got along very well together. She had blond hair made in a ponytail, thick glasses and was wearing a red blouse and jeans. She was also 25 years old. Overall she was also a nice looking woman, maybe if she took off her glasses, she could compare with professor Maria. But when I saw her I could believe that she teaches chemistry, unlike Maria. The big guy following them was Nick, a PE teacher. He came to school three years ago, one year after me, but we never had any close contact. Me teaching history and he PE, well you could see lack of common ground for conversation. When our new two female colleagues came this year he started following them like a little puppy every break. At first, I thought that he liked professor Maria, but then I found out that he likes professor Anna, which made me relieved, but still surprised, he was taller than her almost half a meter. Why didn''t I follow professor Maria if I liked her? Well, I am not insensitive, and even if I was I was always insecure around beautiful women, especially ones like Maria. As they were nearing the table I was sitting at, I could hear Nick''s loud voice. , Let''s play it together Anna, I am strong, no one will dare bully in the game with me around." So that was it, they will also play, Age of Gods", I made extra attention to this conversation especially Maria''s expression. , Maria and I already talked about playing together so..." said Anna shyly and made a look towards Maria. , That is right" she said and turned towards me, Hello professor, how was your day?" she asked me. I was stunned for a second and after recovering my train of thought I replied. , Hello to you too professor, it was eventful as yours I presume, thanks for asking." Anna and Nick turned in our direction and also sad hi, Anna with a little grateful smile and Nick with an expression that said why didn''t this gay go home already. I was used to this situation for the past half a year, Nick would chase Anna around the school, Ana would always go to Maria after every class, and Maria would include me into a conversation to make Nick fell awkward and Anna less so. Not that I minded Nick looking at me unfriendly, but when you have a chance to talk to a literal goddess, you don''t care about the big guy. As they sat around the table, Maria said, Well yes, you are right, in every class, I entered students were talking about the game, I had to give them a small test to calm them down." I almost spurted tea I was drinking from my mouth at the time. She really was a strict teacher, I heard that when she first came to school some students tried to strike a friendly conversation and went too far, she gave whole class a test and 90% of the class had a failing grade. Not one student tried that again. But she was really popular with female students. But it seems that Age of Gods" triumphs over math tests every day. , I too had the same situation" said Anna, students even asked me to play with them." Students looked at Anna like one of theirs and rarely made any mischief in her class. She was like a little sister everyone wanted to have., What about you professor Novak" continued Anna, are you also going to play, Age of Gods?" Nick snorted, and Maria looked curiously at me. , I will, I and my two good friends talked about the game for a long time, we are probably going to play it together. Maybe we can also play together sometimes." I have no idea how that came out of my mouth but I said that. , That would be nice" said Anna, and I could see Nick glare at me like a wild animal, but he eased his look when he heard Maria''s, Mhmm." I had no idea what that meant but I had a nice feeling in my heart from that sound. It was like birds singing in spring. After some small talk, we all started getting ready to go home. At the school gates, we bid farewell and made a deal to talk about the game tomorrow at breaks. Before Nick had a chance to make this day less than superb, and start his speech about him and Anna, and to but out next time, I heard a booming voice across the street calling to me. 2 The Nerdy Trio , Champion what are you doing, hurry up, Eagle Eye is waiting for us." Nick turned around first thinking that someone is calling him. I think I heard somewhere that he was some kind of regional champion in high school, but after that, he didn''t have any success in competing. As soon as he turned around he realized that the thunderous voice was talking to me. He quickly mumbled something to me like goodbye or see you tomorrow and left like he was on a sprinting track. No wonder he ran away, the person across the street smiled knowingly at me and said again. , Let''s go Champion, time is ticking." The person across the street was tall as Nick, but he was burly as an oak. He had brown hair and had a constant smile on his face. Best thing of all he was wearing a police uniform. If you didn''t know him, seeing big burly police officer smiling at you, the only thing you could think was that you did something bad, even if you didn''t. , Ha ha ha Superhero" I answered to him as I was crossing the street,, you didn''t need to come directly at school, you could have waited at Eagle Eye''s." , Nevermind" he said as we shook hands and hugged,, I was in a neighborhood, let''s go, we have a lot to discuss, but a little time." As we were going home we were talking about jobs and families. The game talk was going to wait until we arrived at Eagle Eye house. Superhero and Eagle Eye were, of course, the rest two-thirds of The Nerdy Trio. Of course, those were not their real names. Superhero and Eagle Eye were just nicknames, like mine was Champion, but only three of us used those nicknames for each other. Their real names are Wolf and Marco. The nicknames came from constant visiting each other''s homes since we were young, our parents were friends so it was natural that three of us became friends as well. My nickname came from my name. How, do you ask? Well funny enough my parents are great sports fanatics, so because they hoped I would be sportsman gave me champions name. Two hundred or so years ago there was one champion with that name, so after him, many parents gave their children the same name. As you can imagine after almost two centuries there were thousands of champions with the name Novak. Too bad I wasn''t one of them. At least my parents didn''t push me towards sport when they saw I had other interests. Well, grandpa made sure of that. But since my little sister has great athletic abilities I guess not all is lost for mom and dad. Since half of Wolfs family is in law and order business, you could think that is how we gave him a nickname Superhero. But you would be wrong. When he was little he found a huge comic book collection that one of his ancestors left behind. Since that day he got hooked up, and two of as almost with him, and he dreamed about being a superhero. When he learned that is impossible he turned to the next best thing and became a policeman. Marco''s nickname was relatively not that dramatic in making. He has the best sight ever and his eyes can see far, far away. Hence Eagle Eye. Why did he then also became one of the Nerdy Trio? In some sense, he is the biggest nerd of all of us. When he wasn''t with the two of us he had his camera and notebook and was taking pictures with one and made drawings with other. It was easy then for the rest of the class in both of our junior and middle schools to call us The Nerdy Trio. After a quick ride in the metro, metro and trains besides airplanes are the most commonly used transport vehicles now, we made it to our neighborhood. We live in a suburban part of the city as most people, only the richest remained in city centers, and there are still some people who still live poor lives mainly because all manual jobs are now done by robots, or they don''t want to try hard enough. Our neighborhood is one of the rarer ones where there are still houses left, most of the cities are now full of high buildings and big skyscrapers. Most of the families here are old families, even our great grand grandfathers and grandmothers lived here. Since then families had an agreement not to sell land here and like that this neighborhood stayed the same as hundreds of years ago. Slowly we made it to Marco''s house. Usually, we hang out at his home because it was big and spacious and his parents were mostly out. They owned a gallery in a city, from there probably came Marco''s passion for arts. My house was not as big and Wolf''s house was always full of people, he has three older brothers and some of them have children already, so Marco''s house was always open for us. Marco was waiting for us in a courtyard, almost every house had one and all were pretty big, he was as usually painting something. When he heard us enter through the gates he put away his painting kit and made his way to us. He was the smallest of us, maybe 1.70 m high, with short blonde hair and was handsome and very well built for his size. He was always popular with girls but never paid any attention to them. But when he entered art college he met a girl that he liked and they got together soon enough. She is a pretty girl and has the same love for art as he does, so it happened naturally. She is traveling the world now and they talk over the communication devices almost every day. As for me and Wolf, well, girls were always afraid of Wolf even though he is one of the nicest guys around, and I was always afraid of them. There you have it, that is the reason why two of us never had a girlfriend. , Finally guys, you are here", said Marco as we bumped fists,, let us sit in the garden and start our conquering of the gaming world." Wolf and I looked at each other, smiled and started laughing out loud, with Marco joining us right away. Even if he looked a little timid and uninterested in some things Marco was also very competitive. , Haha let''s go, let''s go" Wolf said as we sat in a garden,, come on Champion, you are an expert tell us what are we going to do." , Well I am an expert, as you say, but in history and mythology, so I may not be well versed in the game itself." We never played any virtual reality games, not because we didn''t want to but because our parents didn''t allow us. They thought that as soon we start playing a game we would neglect our studies. I think that maybe they were right. Instead, they said when you earn your own money you can play as much as you want. So after ten long years, we finally have an opportunity to play virtual reality game together. , But let start anyways. You probably tried to find something about the game as me but as you know there is very little information about the game on official site and different forums dedicated to Age of Gods. When I say little it means almost non-existent. The only thing it says is gods will guide you and something like that. What I can affirm from this is that we need to rely on ourselves for almost everything. Even in mythology mortals had to first earn recognition from gods and only then they would have some kind of help from them, but even then it would be really small." , What should we do then?" asked Wolf. , We should think of this game like any else at first. Every game is similar at the beginning. First of all starting place, one of the things game officials did specify is that player starts in a region he originally resides. So for us, that is Europe or if they are more specific Balkans. What we already know is a possibility of not starting in the same village, but we can later find each other in a bigger city, and until then talk through friends chat. After that, we have character creation. Since we know that the game is based on Earth the only race is human, so that leaves us with customization of a character." , And choosing classes" added Marco,, I am probably choosing hunter." , Yeah, I am going for a warrior" said Wolf,, what about you Novak?" , I am not too sure about that." , About what?" both of them said in unison. , Choosing classes before entering the game directly. I presume that we will choose classes in the game, otherwise, they would have said something beforehand." , Makes sense'''' said Marco,, how is it going to work?" , Not sure, but that is also an interesting part of the game." , I am still going to be a warrior" said Wolf as a matter of fact. Both Marco and I laughed. Even if gods forbade him he would still become a warrior, I thought. , So that is everything and nothing in the nutshell. Those guys from Universal Gaming didn''t give us much to discuss." Universal Gaming is a company which made and released Age of Gods. They were the most known and successful company in the gaming industry. , Well, for anything that happens to us in beginner villages we should try and help each other until we arrive in a bigger city." , We forgot one crucial thing." said Wolf What did we forget I asked myself, and saw that Marco also has no idea about that? , Names" shouted Wolf,, if we want to be famous we need cool names." , And I thought you were hungry" said Marco half-jokingly,, I will use Eagle Eye, I am used to it when you two call me like that and I think it is cool enough." , Well for you that is okay, but what about two of us. I certainly won''t name myself Champion it is too embarrassing. What about you Wolf, don''t tell me you are okay with Superhero. Who knows how many superheroes will be in a game." , Not as many as champions I am certain of that. I will be called Superwolf, I thought about this name for ten years, no one will take that from me. What about you? Champion of History?" Just as I thought that his name is not that bad actually, he had to ruin it. , Only in your dreams, with that name, I will be branded as an eternal nerd, no way in hell." , What then?" both of them asked at the same time. , I haven''t given much thought about it actually." , Both of us have animals name, why don''t you made something up also?" said Marco , Yeah, something like Wise Raven. " blurted out Wolf like he already waited for an opportunity. , Not bad I like it, you are a smart guy and you also have black hair, it suits you. " said Marco , You two already talked about this didn''t you?" I asked but I knew the answer before they even started laughing like a madman. , Fine, fine I accept." I knew they wouldn''t take no for an answer, so I gave up, the name wasn''t that bad and honestly, I didn''t want all their effort to go in vain, they tried to make names that go together. As we said goodbye to each other at the gates of Marco''s home and started going to our own Wolf shouted,, 24:00 hours sharp, do not be late!" We all smiled and thought, finally it''s time. 3 The starting village I quickly arrived at my house, it was only five minutes walking from Marco''s. My family was waiting for me in the living room. Father was watching, as always, sports on TV and mother was cooking. As I said, they are great sports fans, my father especially. In his youth he used to compete in the decathlon, he had some success until he got injured, when he met our mother who was a physical therapist, and there was me, and little later my little sister, you know how it goes. Now my father is a coach, and mother retired a few years ago and now mainly stays home taking care of the house and helping Hope with her studies, not that she needed it. , Father, mother good day to you." , Hi son, go freshen up, we are going to have lunch soon." said my mother. , Son are you ready for new victories?" asked my father. , You know about the game?" I asked him a little surprised. , Of course, I know, it is everywhere in the city and on TV. I remember that three of you numbskulls almost brought chaos every time one of those games came out during your time in high school and college. Did you exercise as I told you? You should keep your body in shape if you want to play the game every night." , I did dad, don''t worry." I started exercising ten years ago when dad told me about the need for a healthy body for people who play games daily. , As long as you are aware." he said. I freshened up and came to the table for lunch. At the same time, my little sister Hope came downstairs from her room. She hugged me and said: , Big brother you are finally home, I am starving." , Haha you little glutton, is it that hard to wait for me to have lunch." I said glutton but Hope was under no circumstances fat or chubby, she had a big appetite because of her regular training at the track every day. Dad was the guilty party, he found her talent and she also enjoyed doing track and field every day. , Usually not, but you were late today." She was right I was usually on time or I called beforehand to tell them not to wait for me. I guess that when you are part of The Nerdy Trio time is ticking differently. , He is here now so let''s start eating." Mom said and we sat down and started eating. Lunch was delicious as usual, and we talked about how we spent our day. When dessert came, Hope asked me. , Bro, are you going to play Age of Gods, everyone is talking about it at school." , Of course, I waited ten years for the game. Me, Marco and Wolf made an agreement that as soon we had our own money we would play virtual reality games. We could have already started one, but all of them were already in later stages, so we waited for this one." , Can I also play, many of my friends will play too. " she asked with her beautiful smile. I couldn''t say no to her but I knew that mom and dad wouldn''t allow her. , You can "said mom with dad nodding his head in approval,, if your brother can buy one helmet for you." , Yes, yes, big brother you will buy it for me, right?" , But how can she play and I couldn''t?" I asked my parents. , She is more responsible than you when you were her age, we don''t need to worry about her neglecting her studies and training." said my father. I facepalmed myself and could only say,, Don''t worry brother will buy you a helmet, but you know that you need to wait until your 18 birthday to start playing virtual reality games." That was a law, only persons at the age of 18 and above can play virtual reality games. There were some exceptions, but not that many and only with parents approval and in rehabilitation medicine. , Thank you brother, she hugged me and kissed me,, remember, my birthday is not even a month away. Ugh, I can''t wait, why isn''t it sooner, I will fall behind this way." , Don''t worry, I will help you and you will make up the difference in no time." , You are the best brother thank you" she hugged me again and ran to her room. , You must take care of your sister even if it is only a game." reminded me, my mother. , I know mom don''t worry", I assured her that I will look out for her and then went to my room to take care some of the school stuff and to prepare to enter Age of Gods. Finally, I thought as I laid down in my bed and put on a helmet. A good thing about virtual games in this age is that technology is very safe, you can even sleep with helmets on and they are not taxing on the body and mental health. Still sleep is important to recover and it is not recommended to play often without sleep. Well since sleeping is one of my favorite things to do I won''t have problems with that. In the past you could even sleep in some games I wonder if that will be possible in Age of Gods. As I was wondering about sleeping, the game was slowly starting. It was already 24:00 h. First thing I saw was that incredible trailer. It was even better than on TV, it was like you were in the center of everything. Then a female soft voice said: , Welcome to the Age of Gods, we hope you will enjoy and try not to anger any of the many Gods or else..." Wow I thought, they don''t kid around with the Gods. Well, it was natural, Gods are not easy to trifle with, there are a lot of examples in mythology where mortals insulted and defied Gods that didn''t end well. , Please choose your region" the voice continued. Then the Earth showed up. It was turning around and stopped on Europa. I could see a lot of regions to choose from. Well, the choice was obvious but it was good to know what are other regions up front. Far north there were Nordic lands, in the center were Germanic lands west were Celtic lands, east were Slavic lands and south was also Slavic region(Balkans), my region, and of course Hellas the land of mythology and Roman Empire. Wow, there was directly Roman Empire, maybe it was easier to name it like that or it may have a different meaning we will see in the game. With no further ado, I choose the Slavic region(Balkans). After that there was character customization, The only thing I did was to remove my glasses and add a little facial hair, that was enough. After that voice said to choose a name. I was curious so I asked: , System how many players choose a name with the word Champion in them?" It took a moment before voice answered,, So far there are 5327 names" , How about a Superhero?" I asked again. ,, 689." That was even faster, I bet that Wolf will mention this sometime later. Enough of that I thought, let''s go. , Wise Raven." I said. , Wise Raven, is that correct?" asked the voice. , Yes." I responded. , Welcome Wise Raven to the Age of Gods." White light was all around me all of a sudden, and when I opened my eyes I found myself in a little village. I looked around trying to make sense where I was. There were little houses here and there mostly made of earth and straw, with some made of wood. New players started appearing one after another. Some were already leaving the village and some were trying to find quests. I guess that this wasn''t first for them, they all looked like they knew what to do. First thing I did was to open my status and see my stats. I was shocked to say at least. I was not the only one judging from all the yelling around me, and people returning to the village from the outside. I looked around and found one quiet spot behind one of the houses so that I can think more carefully about this. This is the gist of it. Nothing, there was nothing. Those guys from the Universal Gaming weren''t kidding when they said that to survive in the Age of Gods you need to rely on yourself. They did also say that this game would be much harder than all the games until now. Not that I played any games before. While I was thinking a notification rang in my ears. , Player Superwolf wishes to be your friend, do you accept?" Then another, , Player Eagle Eye wishes to be your friend, do you accept?" , Accept, accept." I responded to the system. They added me to the group chat and I could hear that they were discussing the pressing matter of every player that started to play Age of Gods, what now? , What is your opinion?" they asked me in one voice. , We just have to try hard and enjoy the game. Isn''t that why are we here? And at least we have a chat system, so if one of us has some problems we can try to solve it together. At least until we find each other in the game. Who knows when can we leave the villages in the first place." , Well then let''s get started, no use in talking about this all day." said Marco, with Wolf following him. , Yeah, even bare hands are weapons." We could only nod our heads after that statement. Before he left Wolf only said,, Five thousand and counting." I could only smile bitterly at that, there are more Champions it seems. As I started saying system gave nothing. No weapons, no potions, not even a single copper coin. There wasn''t an inventory bag, so I guessed you could only carry everything with yourself. I only wore thin linen clothes and leather booths. In the stats page, there were only bars for health and mana points which were 100, there was even hunger bar, for now, it showed maximum value which means that for now I am fine without food but who knows what happens when it starts dropping. All the other stats showed number 10. They were the usual ones, strength, endurance, intelligence, agility, dexterity. There was also fame, which was momentarily at zero, and the only skills were Universal Language, which was at max level and Appraisal which was at level 0. I opened the map, the system wasn''t that ruthless, we could at least see general space in which we stayed. I could see buildings in the village, but not their function, and wooden wall around it with the gates at north and south sides. The name of the village was Little Rock village. Very generic I thought. I should try to find an NPC, and find about the situation I am in. Some of the players started forming groups, to go outside to level, some were going around the village, some were talking to each other, and some were going through the game forum, probably to find out what to do. As I was walking around the village I could see that not many NPC were present in it. There was a group of little children playing hide and seek and tag. Sometimes they even mixed two games. The only adult was a middle-aged man in one of the wooden constructions, which would be smithy from all the metal tools in it. Many players wanted to talk to this blacksmith and try to find some quest, but the only response was cold stares and short responses like can''t you see I am busy and don''t bother me to the female players. There were few more wooden buildings, one that looked like a temple, one big I assume for keeping some kind of an animal, sheep maybe, and one which I think is for storing food for the whole village. All of the buildings were closed except the temple, players would go in and out with unwilling looks on their faces which could only mean that there was nothing in there. I decided to try to ask one of the children something because I saw that they responded to other players, but still, most of them went away with unhappy expressions on their faces. I found one boy hiding behind the temple and asked him , Excuse me, boy, can you tell me where are adults?" , Go away, you are going to reveal me!" I was somewhat surprised, as I didn''t expect that kind of an answer. It seems that NPCs are much more intelligent than I thought. In here they are also human, so I should treat them like that. , Sorry" I said,, let me help you hide." I sat with my back turned to him so that other children couldn''t see him. , What do you think?" , Haha'''' laughed the boy, you are a good guy, now they will never find me." smiled the boy cheekily. , So, where are grown-ups?" I asked him again , Some are in the fields, some are tending the sheep, and several uncles are hunting in the forest." Of course, in this age food is the most important resource, no wonder there are no adults in the village at this time. , You are a Traveler, right? You can wait in the village or go out to find them, it will be a long time until they come back." said the boy and run out with his hands high in the sky, evidently he won. Well let''s go out then, I decided, not knowing that I created a quest where players are asked by children to help them hide, which later players crowned as the first quest every player should do. 4 Temple and the first ques Let''s check out the temple first before exiting the village. I entered the temple, and in it, there where many stone statues. There were two big ones of average man''s height, one male, and one female and several ones, a little smaller than the two in the center, surrounding them. The big male god was depicted as a man in his ripe years with a long beard and a hood over his head. He was masculine and in his right hand there was a bolt of lighting and in the left an oak branch. This was obviously Perun God of Thunder and stormy skies, Ruler of Gods, protector of the world and vanquisher of unjust. Goddess next to him was his wife Perperuna, Goddess of Rain. I only recognized it is her because she wore similar cloak as her husband. Six more figures were standing there, three on Perun''s side and three on his wife''s side. On Perun''s side, the first figure was that of a bear. That was Veles Lord of the Forests, god of animals, fields, and forests. He is known to transform in any animal form as he was their protector but was often described in a bear form. Next to him was a figure with Sun behind him with a hammer in one, and a sack of gold in another hand. That was Horz, Sun God and god of miners, blacksmiths, God of Wealth and Luck. Last male figure was similar or almost the same, depends on which angle you are looking from, to the figure before it. This figure had a moon behind him, with two crows on his shoulders. He had seven swords on his waist and one big in his hand. On his forehead, there was a black band. This was Yarilo, Moon God and also God of Wrath and War. First of the female figures was a beautiful woman with lush bosom and enchanting smile. She was covered in fern, grass, and flowers, with hair also full of flowers long to her knees. In one hand she was holding a cluster of grapes with a little swallow on her index finger and on the other there was a bouquet of flowers. She was Vesna Goddess of Fertility, Spring and Marriage. Next to her was Devana Goddess of Hunt and Love. She was a beautiful naked woman with deer horns and bow and arrow in her hands. The last goddess was ugly in comparison with the rest. She had a big head and long arms almost claw-like. This was Mokosh, protector of women and their destiny and also spinning and weaving. As I was looking at all the gods I did what was most logical doing in a temple, I prayed. I prayed to Perun for his protection and his wife for a safe journey. I also prayed to the rest of the gods. From Veles and Vesna I asked forgiveness if I take something from their domain. From brother gods Horz and Yarilo I asked for good luck and strength in battle, and from Devana and Mokosh I asked for some luck with women. The last request was purely on a whim though, something like,, when in Rome do as Romans do". Just as I was thinking about exiting the temple a system notification rang in my ears. , Congratulations you are the first player to pray to gods, gaining the title,, First Believer". Also gaining first prayer buff and opening two new stats Luck and Fate. Gained 10 Luck and 10 Fate points. Luck and Fate points cannot be raised through leveling up, only in special circumstances." I was surprised to say at least. First thing I did was to send my two buddies a message to tell them to pray to gods to gain buffs. Then I took a look at all the notifications. First were stats, two new stats appeared just like that. I noticed that praying opened them but I gained them because I was first. Maybe second player praying to the gods will gain 9 points, third 8 and so on. This was a big gain. I had some idea what is luck about, but I had no idea what is fate supposed to be for. I will found out sooner or later. Next was prayer buff. , For the next seven days your every stat will be increased by 20%, all equipment requirements will be 50% lover and all rewards and experience will be doubled." Wow, that was all I could think to say, For a beginner, this was a godsend. Let''s check out the title. , First Believer Every time you pray to gods this title will double the effect of the prayer and all permanent blessings will have half the requirements needed to gain." I had my mouth open for at least a minute before I came to myself. This was nuts, absolutely crazy. If buff was having a lottery ticket with one missing number than this title was a jackpot. What am I waiting for, I must use this title and buff as soon as possible. I run out of the temple like the devil himself was after me. Players who were still in the village must have thought I found something in the temple and run into it. But when they saw that the temple was still empty, they cursed behind me. I didn''t care as I was running towards the north gate. Before I had a chance to leave the village one of the guards at the gates called out to me. , Traveler can you slow down a moment I need your help!" A quest I thought. It seems that luck started working. , What can I do for you?" , Can you go to the fields and find village chief and when you find him tell him that merchant friend came to our village, but has to go quickly to the next. Chief will reward you if tell him this." , Of course, no problem, which way are the fields?" , Thank you, friend, go east from here and in 10 minutes you will make it. One of us would go but we need to guard the village." I didn''t wait for another second, as I ran east to the fields. I even forget to ask the guards are there any monsters or beasts on the way, but since I got the first quest I didn''t care. As I was running I took a look at a quest window for details. , Message for the village chief Find the village chief in the fields and tell him about the merchant who is waiting in the village. Quest difficulty: Easy Quest reward: 50 EXP points and 5 copper coins." It seems that the reward isn''t bad, I can only find out when I find the chief. As I traveled to the fields I saw players going in and out of the forest in the north of the village. They were moving in groups, as solo players would find it difficult to gain levels by themselves. But it seems that they found weapons if regular wooden sticks can be called weapons. But who knows maybe in groups sticks can be useful. I also tried to find something and after a few minutes traveling to the fields, I found one stick by the road. It was a regular stick, with a length of a walking cane. I tried to use the Appraisal on it. Wooden stick Attack 0-1 An ordinary stick. The only thing that was not ordinary about this stick was that it even didn''t have a rarity. Usually, weapons had a rarity. This only shows that a stick isn''t a weapon. I don''t think I can kill an ordinary monster with it. I was starting to see fields in front of me. They were quite big, maybe three to four times the size of the Little Rock village. People were working in them, there were both man and women and young and old. Almost all the village was here. I finally arrived and the only thing to do was to find the village chief. There was one middle-aged man not far from me so I went to him to ask about the chief. , Excuse me, guards from the village sent me to give the chief a message, do you know where he is?" The man looked at me for a moment, probably to see if there is any treat coming from me, but as he saw that I don''t have any bad intentions he answered my question. , If you are looking for chief you will find him over there." he said and pointed his finger at a tall tree that stood somewhere at the end of fields. I looked over there and saw few people sitting in a circle eating and talking about something. I said my thanks to the man and moved towards the tree. That was oak far as I can tell, it was very big and it made a large shadow, which allowed people to rest in hot weather. I saw one man sitting with his back to the tree. He was an older man, had a long white beard and a wise expression on his face. This should be village chief I thought. , Excuse me chief" I said and all of them turned their heads to see me. , Young man what can I do for you?" asked the old man. Good, this is the chief I thought. , Respected chief" I continued,, I am a traveler that arrived at your village this morning. After I finished my prayer in the temple I wanted to go outside to make myself familiar with the surroundings. As I was exiting the gates one of the guards asked me to tell you that the merchant came to the village and that he is in a hurry to go to the next village. He said that you should come back quickly, so I ran here from the village to give you this message." , What?" asked chief a little surprised,, he is already here, he should have arrived tomorrow. Are you sure about this young man?" , That was the message I wouldn''t dare lie to you chief." Now that I think about it there was some commotion in the village among the players maybe they realized that a merchant was there. , All right young man I can see that you are trustworthy, as a thank you for your service here is a little reward." I heard a,, ding" and a notification showed up in front of me. , Quest completed Message for the village chief You have been rewarded 100 EXP points and 10 copper coins" Chief gave me a little leather bag from which I could hear the rattling of the coins. That prayer buff was certainly a good thing to have. I saw that my experience was one-tenth away from reaching level one. I should try to find something to gain more experience to level up. As I was looking for things to do the village chief and two younger men started going back to the village. Before they went on their way chief talked to me. , Young man can you help us in the fields it is sowing time and we need every help we can get, we will provide you with a meal every day until the end of the sowing." A new quest arrived just at the right time. Let''s see details first. , Help in the fields Villagers of Little Rock village are sowing wheat, help them until they are finished. Difficulty: Normal Reward: 500 EXP points per day, the reward will be gained on the last day of work." 500 EXP points a day with the buff that is 1000, so at the end, I will earn a lot of EXP points. In the meantime, I can find beast or monsters to catch and further raise my level. Not bad at all. , No problem chief, I will start right away." Chief thanked me and quickly headed towards the village. I turned to the rest of the villagers and asked. , Well, what should I do now?" 5 Hard work, first impressions and new findings , Come with me I will show you what to do." said one bald man among the villagers. I went after him to start my first fieldwork experience. We arrived at one spot where he gave me a spade and said , Follow my lead." I took the spade in my hands and started following him. He was digging the land with it somewhere around a quarter a meter in depth. I was trying to imitate him as best as possible. Digging earth was not an easy job, I can see that our ancestors had a hard life. In this age robots do everything, in agriculture, human engineers need to input determined headings and that''s it. If you don''t want to tire yourself you need to pace yourself. Power and angle at which you hit and dig the earth are very important. While I finished one furrow my teacher already finished his second. I could only sigh about the result. He also seemed still able to do two more while I was tired after just one. Well that EXP points won''t come running to you. I looked at the sun high in the sky and continued working. It seems that day and night are reversed here in the game. When it is night, in reality, it is a day here. When I came to the village it was 24 h in reality so in here was probably 12 in the afternoon. If time is going the same here and in reality now is somewhere around 14 h in the game or 02 h in reality. If the sun sets around 19 h I have roughly five more furrows to do. Time was passing slowly and even my hunger bar was getting really low. Fortunately, villagers made a lunch break and I joined them. Since game reproduced reality almost 100% you could feel fatigue, wind blowing on your skin, even sweat was visible and was trickling down my cheeks. Because of that, I was looking forward to eating in game. The meal consisted of one loaf of bread and one bowl of some kind of stew. Bread was made this morning but wasn''t hard. It still retained some of his softness. The stew was made here from different kinds of vegetables. The only ones I could recognize where carrots and some kind of onions and cabbage. There was little meat in it probably because they couldn''t eat it every day. Anyway, it was delicious for a meal made in this kind of environment. Smell and taste were just like in reality. My hunger bar which was almost empty was finally full and I even got temporary strength buff of 2 points for 2 hours. I continued my work until chief came back. He was obviously done with the merchant and had a smile on his face. Not short after that villagers started collecting all the equipment and tools and started going back to the village. I also followed them so I can log out in a safe environment which was, of course, the village. I could log out here but who knows if some monster will show up when a log in next time. I also wanted to have a little real sleep. Thankfully I didn''t have many classes today. This was the first time where I thought that less history was a good thing since I could come home quickly after school and continue the game. While I had my breakfast I was browsing forums to see first impressions of other players. As I suspected many players filed complains to game designers about the difficulty of the game and scarcity of monsters and quests to level up. Game designers only answered with the same story, rely on yourself and believe in gods. I was on good track so far and I suspect that I am not the only one. Wolf and Marco probably also found their way in raising their level so I will not worry about them. Finally, Hope couldn''t restrain herself and she asked me what did I do. , Brother is it really that hard as people say? What did you do?" , It is if you don''t find the right way and say the right words. Everything has some function in the Age of Gods." , I can''t understand what are you talking about." she said pouting with raised eyebrows. , Haha, don''t worry you will understand when you start playing. I will also help you so you will be fine. At least I won''t let you to the farm to level up." , What, brother you are farming?" she asked me with a confused look. Even mom and dad gave me the same look. , Yeah, I am doing farm work can you imagine. I bet there are stranger ways to raise your level. I was lucky enough to find one at all." , Well son" said my father,, it is not bad to experience that kind of work also." , That was my thought exactly dad " I said in response and said my goodbyes for today,, well I should get going now." I kissed mom and Hope and went out the door. The school was in an even bigger uproar then yesterday. I couldn''t wait to finish my classes. When kids are in this kind of mood there are few things to do with them or calm them. Most classes are like that, except Maria''s, kids there are usually quiet all the time. I saw three of my peers on break when I finished my first class, they discussed the game. If I was more precise Maria and Anna talked about it and Nick tried to interject every now and than. He even had not so nice expression on his face because he didn''t have any to brag about in front of Anna. They saw me and two ladies beckoned me to sit with them. Anna asked me how was my first day after complaining how hard the game was. , It wasn''t that bad I found two quests and I am still in progress with one of them." , You found not one but two quests how did you do it?" asked Anna with an excited expression, and I could also see Maria show some interest from her sparkling eyes. , One part luck one part intuition and even more luck, but I think you need to see NPC as real people and to talk with them as we talk here. And maybe you can find some benefits in that." , What kind of a quest are you doing?" asked Maria. I responded with lightning speed when I heard her question happy like a bee in a field of flowers. , Farming." , Ha ha ha ha" Nick laughed with such voice that whole break room heard him. Some of our older colleagues gave him a strange look which said are you crazy. He felt the atmosphere quit down because of him and immediately stopped laughing. , It is funny, but you can still earn experience if your villages have fields you can try it. Nick, you are a big guy that would be nothing for you. You would be a good farmer." I ended with small jest just to see his face. He did give me hard look, but once he heard giggling coming from Maria and Anna he snorted something and went away exiting the break room. , We should try it in our village, Maria, farming I mean, what do you think?" , Maybe, we will see" Maria said thinking about it. , You two are in the same village?" I couldn''t help but ask. , Yes we were very lucky." said Anna, with Maria nodding her head. , That is nice" I said,, it is easier when you have someone you know." We talked a little until the end of the break when we had to go to the next class. I remembered something and before we went through the door I said to them. , Here is a little advice" both of them looked at me,, next time when you exit the village or as soon as you log in go to the temple. Try to pray to the gods, or in your case especially goddesses." Anna looked at me with a confused look, but Maria seemed to realize something, as she nodded and thanked me for the advice. , I have two more classes so I will see you on next break or tomorrow." Next break was a short one so it was possible not seeing each other. After I finished with my classes I stayed for an hour or so to prepare the test I promised to my students. When I finished I packed my things and went home. As soon as I arrived and said hello to mom I entered my room and put my game helmet on. I knew I had a little short of two hours before dad and Hope came from school for lunch so I wanted to use this time to the fullest. When I showed up in the village it was still dark with the moon still in the sky. Sun won''t be coming out for a few more hours. What should I do then? I went to the temple to see if prayer can give me some benefits. As I thought, my week-long super buff is a lot stronger than a regular prayer from now on. But then I thought, wait, I prayed to all the gods what about only one. That should be looked into. Which one should I pray to? My look fell on a statue of a bear and a prayer went out of my mouth. , Veles, please protect me in your forest and give me strength in your fields." Since I wanted to search forest and also I will be working in the fields later Veles was the most obvious choice. He didn''t let me down as I heard prompt in my head. , Blessing of the Forest Lord, Veles For the next 12 hours, strength and endurance in the fields and forests increased by 10 and all damage from beasts reduced by 20%." Prayer worked, but what most shocking was its benefits. It seems that my tittle,, First Believer" isn''t for show only. If a was a regular player duration time, stats increase and damage reduced would be half mine. I tried with one more prayer but it didn''t work, it seems that for now, only one prayer per day is possible. Maybe in the future, I could gain buffs from multiple gods. Well, let''s head to the forest. With the stick I found yesterday still in my hand I started moving towards the north gate since I knew that forest is in that direction. Guards were guarding the village gates even in this time. One of them noticed me and when I arrived at the gate, he talked to me. , Traveler where are you going in this time, night time is dangerous if you are alone." , I couldn''t sleep so I wanted to explore a little around the edges of the forest. Don''t worry I won''t go too far in." , That is good, you should know your limits, but be careful anyway. There are some beasts and some even worse things out there at night." , Worse things?" I asked a little frightened. , It will be better for you not knowing, just be careful out there." I saw that he won''t talk about it anymore so I went my way. Since I was level 0 right now I didn''t have any illusions that I can survive inside the forest, so I decided to walk around the edges and try to map more of the surroundings. There was no map which showed everything so players had to explore and map by themselves. Good thing was that we didn''t have to draw maps, game designers were generous about this. Forest was spread from the fields in the east until the mountainous region in the west. When I arrived at the mountainous region I saw one big rock in front of the mountains. To be more accurate first were small hills then there were bigger which than grew in a big mountain. I guess that the big rock is the namesake of the village. When you look at the hills and the mountain it is little, hence Little Rock village. This rock could be a sign for travelers or some kind of a boundary for villagers, like the big oak at the end the fields. I needed around one hour to go from the fields until the rock so I decided to go south and come back to the village at the south gate and to map the rest of the surroundings. 6 Finding faith? I was very careful not to excite some kind of a wild beast as I was familiarising with the environment. The whole east side of the village was a mountainous surrounding. From time to time I could hear howling of the wolves and some other strange sounds. If I could choose I would gladly choose hearing howling of the wolves every day over those strange sounds. It sounded like some kind of a scream, but not human or animal, more somewhere in between. I made a mental note and continued with quick footsteps. At the south side of the village was a little graveyard and then a smaller forest until the fields. As for the roads, there was one along the mountains heading south. You can get on it from the south gate, but from the north, there wasn''t any visible road, only options were either across the mountain or through the forest. Since I saw everything important for now I headed into the village and logged out for lunch. After lunch, I logged into the game once again. Sun was already up and villagers started their daily lives. There was almost no other player in the village except me so I didn''t need to hide. I saw chief and villagers getting ready for the fields so I joined them. I nodded to the chief and my bald farming teacher and they nodded back to me. Soon we departed. I saw one more group with half a dozen men with bows and arrows going into the forest. Those must be village hunters I concluded. Thanks to the blessing from Veles working in fields was a lot easier today. At one moment before meal break, I heard a notification in my ears. , Repeating certain actions will gain you stat boosts. Hard physical work gained you 1 point in strength and endurance." Wow, I exclaimed in my head. This quest will not earn me only experience but also stat boost. Since leveling was hard every stat point is a win. I was thinking what to do after this farming. I knew that other players we soon find out this method to raise their levels so I decided that I will farm only one more day. On the forums players still made a fuss over hard leveling. It seems that no one else discovered prayers, or if they did, which is more likely, they wanted to keep it for themselves. Next day in school students were a little calmer than the last two days. On one of the breaks, Maria approached me and thanked me with a smile for my advice from before. That was the first time she smiled at me. I lost myself in a moment and she noticed that. I didn''t have a chance to respond and she just giggled and turned around to sit with Anna. Even though it was autumn when she turned around I could smell spring in her hair. I stood frozen for I moment before I came to myself. Maria and Anna giggled like they knew something I didn''t. It seems that the distance between us was shortening little by little. I couldn''t help but smile to that. One more day of farming brought me two more stat points, like yesterday 1 in strength and 1 in endurance. While I was going back to the village I started a conversation with the chief. , Chief I would like to help the village in some other way than farming. There are also more travelers maybe they would like to help you farm." , Young man, that is not a bad idea, with more travelers we can finish sooner" said chief , and since you want to help us, go to smithy tomorrow early in the morning. Donar my have some work for you." Donar must be village blacksmith. I thanked the chief and a notification rang in my head. , Quest completed Help in the fields Villagers of Little Rock village are sowing wheat, help them until they are finished. Difficulty: Normal Reward: 500 EXP points per day, the reward will be gained on the last day of work Gained 3000 EXP points." With this much experience, I rose to level 2. I also gained 20 stat points to distribute them, but I decided to wait until I am certain where to put them or in a situation where it was unavoidable. Finally, it happened. Forums were on fire. While I was on one of the breaks from class, forums exploded. Forth day since the game was released on Monday, October first, players finally found out about prayer buffs. I would bet my house, which was my parent''s property of course, but you know what I mean, that 99% of the player population thought that gods were only story points, final bosses in some cases, and maybe quest givers. Few, like me, had an idea to pray to them and to actually gain anything from that. So how did it happen, you ask. Men''s stupidity and lust. Yeah, I know. I as a man was totally embarrassed when I read the article which revealed the power of the gods. There were some idiots that tried to do funny staff with female players. It happened on the first two days but it didn''t gain much attention. Girls logged out or gathered together in bigger numbers. But one girl, the one which wrote the article that started everything, was by some bad luck, harassed by a group of male players. So what did she do? She found female NPC and asked her for help. Female NPC told her to pray to goddess which was the protector of women. In every mythology, there is a goddess which protects women. In some cases more of one. So this girl did just that. And what do you know, it worked. When those players came to her again they could only regret their actions. Verbal harassment, stats go down by half for two hours, more talking, stats go to zero. Physical harassment forced out of the game for six hours. Punishments varied from region to region and form goddess to goddess. There were fast like lightning or divine arrow from the sky, or even painfully slow ones which included water, earth, and fire. Some male players later in the game tried again thinking that girls would forget about prayer for protection. But they were mistaken. First thing girls did upon login every day was to pray in temples. And since protection prayer didn''t count as a buff prayer for a day it wasn''t hard for girls to pray twice. Hence, Blue Rose, the girl which revealed this aspect of the game to the world, was a first worldwide known player, her fame was well earned. She was also the first player from Age of Gods to have her own fan club. That is how players finally started having faith in gods. From that day on, temples always had players inside them. Some even prayed for hours, but that is a story for later. Of course, students again raised the temperature in the classroom, this was a great finding and they had to talk about it until the end of the day. I somehow managed to survive the day and after reminding them about the test next week, slowly went home. I slept until lunch since I knew that in the night I wouldn''t have any success for now. After lunch and a little talk about the game with Hope, I logged into the game. First I entered the temple. There were a few players in it praying. Since I was about to go to the blacksmith I prayed to Horz. Then I heard a new notification. , Blessing of the Sun God Horz Gain 10 points in strength and endurance. Duration 12 hours." This blessing may on first look be weaker than that of Veles but this buff can be used everywhere and the one from Veles is useful only in forests and fields. I wonder what kind of buffs other gods can give me. I could look at forums but where is a surprise in that. I exited the temple and started walking towards the smithy. Donar, the blacksmith wasn''t here so I waited for him in front of the smithy. Not much time passed as I saw him walking towards me. , You are the one chief sent to me?" he asked me with a tone that said keep up. , Yes"I answered quickly and simply. , Wait here" he said and entered the smithy. I could only wait outside with patience. Ten minutes later he came out with two sacks over his back and one leather bag over his shoulder. He gave me one of the sacks and said , Carry this and follow me." With that, he started walking towards the south gate. I quickly went after him. I could hear other players calling one another, talking about fields. I was right others found out about farming. Well, I gained quite a lot from it so it''s time for the next quest. Speaking of it I didn''t even get one yet. , Respected Donar what am I supposed to help you with?" , You don''t have to speak like a little girl, call me Donar. You are going to help me excavate some ore in the mountain mine. Just do as I tell you." Ding! Quest gained" , Help blacksmith Donar Help Doran to dig iron ore in the mountains and bring them back to the village Difficulty: Normal Reward: 1000 EXP points and extra reward for every found ore" , All right, but are there monsters in the mountain?" , Monsters? Do you think this is my first time looking for ores! Even if there were monsters there I don''t care. I only need you to carry back the ones we find, otherwise, I would have gone by myself." After that response, I could only follow him. He must have already seen monsters and fought with them. He won for sure, him being not afraid, speaks a lot. We went through the south gate. Guards didn''t stop us, they just nodded and said good luck. We were going to the part of hills and mountain which was bare of trees. That was probably region with the ores. I slowly followed Donar as we climbed the hills. There was small vegetation on the hills, some kind of grass which can probably grow everywhere. That was it there was a small tree here and there, but as we climbed higher and higher there were no more trees, only small patches of grass. Two hours later we finally arrived at a place full of rocks. This is the place I thought. There were big and small rocks cheeped from the mountain, probably from the previous excavation. Doran stopped and put his sack on the ground. I did the same and waited for his instructions. He took out two pickaxes from his sack and gave one to me. , Start first with that big one, when you finish come to me." He walked to one side, spat in his hands and started swinging at the mountain. I looked at the big rock not far from me. It had a height of tree men and width of five. Does he really think I can do this by myself? Knowing that he doesn''t care I could only start swinging away. As I was swinging the pickax at the boulder I was surprised how easy was to swing it and how fast I was doing it. Boulder was cheeped very fast. If I continue to hit it like this I may break it in three hours. An hour later I couldn''t help but find this situation strange. Prayer buff was good but it shouldn''t be this easy. I looked at the pickax and tried to appraise it. It took four tries until I could see it''s information. Donar''s sturdy pickax Uncommon 17-20 attack Grants Mining Skill Pickax made by Master Blacksmith Donar who is also an advanced miner Even a total novice can mine with this pickax Well, you can''t judge a book by its cover. Donar may be unfriendly but he is master in his craft. Him giving this tool to me means that he is a good guy. Enough of thinking I should continue. 7 Hard work made the man Due to my 10 points of luck, prayer buff or Donar''s pickax, or maybe all together I found one decent sized chunk of ore. Copper ore Common An ordinary material used by blacksmiths Weight: 1,8 kg Nice, I thought, extra reward here I come. After I smashed that boulder into pieces I found only that one chunk of ore. I went to Donar to ask for the next task. I handed him that piece of ore and asked what next. He looked at it, nodded his head in approval and showed me a place not far from his and said to just go at it. And I did. Not only did I focused so hard at swinging I even forgot about going hungry. If Donar didn''t call after some time to hand me a piece of jerky, I would probably collapse from hunger. After replenishing our energy we continued with the mining. Thanks to Donar''s pickax it was going smoothly. I found one more chunk of ore a little smaller than the previous, and I also gained 1 strength and 1 endurance point due to the hard work. It seems that one day of mining is worth one and a half day of farming. We finished soon after. Donar already dug out two full sacks of ores and I could see that most of them were iron, with even few pieces of silver and gold. I put one sack on my back while Donar took another, and we walked down the mountain. Good thing was that we were going down, if I had to climb with full sack I would probably stop half way. As we were going down, the sun also followed us slowly going down the horizon. When we arrived at the gates one of the guards came to Donar, pat his shoulder and they talked a little. From the silence when we were together I thought that Donar doesn''t have any friends, but I guess I was wrong. We arrived at the smithy shortly after. I put the sack down and waited for the end of the quest. Donar took two chunks of ore tossed them to me and said , Thanks for the help bringing the ores down the mountain." I heard the notification saying I finished the quest and gaining 2000 EXP points, but there wasn''t any extra reward. I noticed that two chunks of ore were the ones I found. I looked at Donar with confused look, which he noticed. , You found those, so they belong to you. I only need you to carry the sack anything you found would be yours." , Thanks" I said and looked at two chunks of ore, and suddenly an idea popped in my head , Donar could you make me a weapon with this, I could compensate you for it." , There is no need for that" he said , I can make you a weapon, but with this much ore, I could only make a knife. If you want a better weapon you would need more ores. Come to my smithy tomorrow, I will lend you one of my pickaxes, then you can go to the mountain." I could only thank him and say goodbye until tomorrow. Finally, Friday came and with that the end of the school week. Now I will have more time to explore in the game. At school I talked with Maria and Anna about the game and how are they doing. Yes, Nick was also there, when he heard that Maria and Anna are farming in their village, he also started bragging that he is also farming and that he is the best in his village. I barely stopped myself from laughing out loud. Because he was too busy with making himself look good in front of Anna he didn''t notice. But Maria did, and I could see a small smile coming from her. I smiled back to her and thought to myself, you fool when will you talk to her alone and ask her out. But since she and Anna were always together at school I didn''t have the courage to get near her. A little more I thought, a little more time and I will do it. When I came back home I left those thoughts in the back of my mind and started concentrating on the game. Before lunch, I finished the test for classes next week and looked around forums a little. It seems that the strongest players are level 3. Well, lack of monsters and their power made a situation like this. Players also complained about the lack of necessary beginner stuff, like weapons and money, but game officials stayed numb to players plight. , Hard work made the man" or something like that, was a saying in the past, but since now all hard work is done by robots, we human beings forgot about it and want everything on a silver plate. First thing I did when I logged in was to pray at the temple. When I got the blessing from Horz I went to Donar''s smithy. He was already there refining ores from yesterday. I could feel the heat from the forge all the way until the smithy''s entrance. I said hello and he gave me one smaller sack and one of his pickaxes. I almost started running to the mountain mine, but one realization stopped me in place. What am I going to do about food? Thus far villagers and Donar supplied me with meals. I may be able to catch something but preparing it was a different thing. I turned around and asked Donar, , Donar do you know where can I get a meal to take with me?" , Do you have money?" he asked. , 10 copper coins" I said, Of course, it wouldn''t be free. In this world, the meal must be earned. , Go to my wife, she can make you something." he said and gave me a direction to his house. At first, I was surprised that Donar is married, but then why wouldn''t he be. Then the second surprise arrived when I saw his wife. Even though she was middle-aged lady her beauty was still there. When she was younger she must have been the most beautiful girl in the village. How did Donar marry such beauty is beyond me. I said to her why am I here and that Donar sent me. She was very polite and for 5 coppers gave me a loaf of bread and one piece of jerky. She also gave me one small leather bag to put food in it and one water flask which I filled at the village well. Before I went my way she said if I had money I could also come tomorrow for a meal. Well with five more coppers I had one more meal guaranteed. I put my legs on the road and hurried to the mine, having a weapon will be critical for my exploration in the future. I was a little afraid traveling through the hills and mountain. Donar wasn''t with me and I had only one pickax as a weapon. But I soon calmed down. In this almost barren part of the mountain, there shouldn''t be any monsters or beast. Though I did hear once cry of a bird high in the mountains. Was it an eagle or a hawk I had no idea. As soon as I made it to the right spot I started mining. Even though it wasn''t that hard with the help of Donar''s pickax, I couldn''t help myself turning around from time to time. When you are alone in a new strange environment you may feel afraid from time to time. Even though I was here with Donar yesterday at least I knew I could count on someone if something would happen. Before lunch, I found two chunks of copper ore the size of the ones yesterday. I ate half of the loaf and the jerky and drank water to recover my hunger bar to the full. Rest of the bread loaf I saved for the time before leaving for the village. I diligently continued my work swing after swing. Because this was repetitive work I decided to chat with Wolf and Marco, to see what they are up to. , Hey guys, how are you doing? How are you raising your levels?" , I am fighting of course" said Wolf , I am going with village hunters and hunting beasts, I an level 3 already, halfway to level 4. Thanks for the tip by the way. God of War is the best. Only you could discover this prayer thing so quickly." , Wow halfway to level 4, nice. I am almost level 3, I am trying to get a weapon to level easily. Are you fighting barehanded?" , At first, but hunters gave me an ax when they saw me fight, ha ha ha." Laughed Wolf loudly. Well, he was always a straightforward person, no wonder hunters took a liking to him. , Marco what are you doing, what level are you?" I asked him. , Painting, level 4." he answered. , What?!" Both Wolf and I were surprised, we thought he is outside the game, but how did he raise his level so quickly we wondered. But then he explained us his situation. , After you told us about the temple the first day I went to pray. I gained a 5-day buff and because I didn''t know what to do I walked around the village. I found a metal knife and because I don''t have any experience using it I found old tree bark and started carving on it. I was carving a picture of a village when one villager saw me. He spread the word and the village chief came to me. He said I was very good and asked me to paint a picture of him. Good thing merchant was there so chief procured the materials. When I finished the picture everyone begged chief for one. So he had to buy more materials for every villager, even kids. I was painting every day, today will be the last one, I have several more paintings to make." Wolf and I were astonished. What could we say except wow, well done, what luck! Honestly, this kind of leveling could only be done by Marco or some other artists who have same luck and love for arts like him. When they asked me what am I doing, they couldn''t believe that I am doing manual labor. As we were talking I found one more copper ore. We talked a little more than continued doing our one things. I saw from the position of the sun that I have a little more than an hour before I had to return to the village so I hurried up. With some stroke of lady luck fifteen minutes before departing I found one decent chunk of bronze ore. Bronze ore Common material An ordinary material used by blacksmiths Weight: 2,13 kg With great enthusiasm, I ate my piece of bread and slowly started walking down the mountain. I even didn''t pay attention to strange noises from the mountains as I was nearing the village. Donar was still in his smithy refining the ores from yesterday. I handed him the ores and his pickax with a small smile. , Not bad'''' he sad when he saw the ores I brought him,, so what is it going to be?" , Ha?" I couldn''t understand him. , Weapon" he said,, what kind of a weapon should I make for you?" So that is what he meant, a weapon. What kind? I had no idea. I never used one and I don''t know what weapon would be good for me. Bow and arrow, no way, I don''t have the eye to hand coordination for that, short weapons are for rouge like jobs so that is out if the question. The ax or sword I don''t think those are for me. If a shield could be a weapon it could be a good choice. The only close thing to a weapon I wielded was Donar''s pickax and that wooden stick I found by the road. Stick? Club? Staff? Why not, I thought and asked Donar. , Can you make me a metal staff?" , A staff, is it?" he looked at me and nodded his head,, so that is your weapon of choice. Not bad. you are probably not familiar with regular weapons so you choose something which is easy to use for a beginner. Let me measure you so I can make it be easier to use." Donar used some kind of a leather meter to measure my height, length of my arms and he even looked my palm and hands for a few minutes. I guess this is how blacksmiths make weapons which are suited to certain people. When he finished he said,, Come tomorrow morning to take it" and immediately started refining ores I dug out. The only thing I could do was to log out, get some real sleep and wait for my first weapon. 8 First weapon, herbs and first figh Since it was Saturday I entered the game as soon as the sun started to rise over the village. I knew I had to gain an early start and to start leveling for real now. I went to the smithy as fast as I could. Even if it was very early in the morning Donar was already there. He saw me waiting outside the smithy and smiled. He rose from his spot and took a metal staff from behind him and tossed it to me. I cached the staff and looked at it. It felt good in my hands like it was supposed to be wielded by them. There weren''t any carvings on the staff but it looked sturdy and strong. It was almost one and a half meters long. As I used Appraisal I could only bow to Donar. He made me one hell of a staff. Donar''s bronze long staff Rare Blunt weapon Attack 27-37 Strength +10 10% chance to inflict 2-second stun Weight 5,6 kg Master blacksmith Donar rarely makes staffs, but he made an exception and made one for a young traveler Restrictions: Bound to player Wise Raven, cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, can be gifted once, since it was made for a specific player no level restriction, if gifted required level 5 I don''t know if this attack is high or low, but it will for sure be of use to me until I leave the village. It even has +10 strength and a chance to stun. One amazing thing is that it can''t be dropped, not that I want to die, but still. If by some chance I die the staff will be glued to my hand. It cannot be sold but I can gift it once. I thought about Hope but then remembered that I will use this staff for a long time. In any case, this staff will be of great help to me. I thanked Donar and went to his house to get my meal for today. If I want to hunt outside the village I will need strength. Donar''s wife gave me the same meal as yesterday and I lost the last five coppers in my pouch. But by some fortune, I gained a quest. , Herb gathering Master Donar''s wife is asking you the gather some healing herbs in the forest and mountains because the village is having a shortage of them Difficulty: Normal Reward 1000 EXP points for every 20 herbs gathered and one big leather bag" She gave me one big leather bag to put herbs in them and sent me on my way. I guess that this bag should be a reward for a successful quest, if not then I would need to return it. But how hard would it be to gather 20 herbs? And it even isn''t of one kind but any herb can do. I went to a well to fill my water flask and started walking towards the north gate. I said hi to the guards and exited the village. I decided to walk along the edge of the forest and then start climbing to the mountain when I arrive in that region. As I was walking through the forest I was looking very carefully around in search of the herbs. Everything I saw I used Appraisal on it. Most of the times it was just regular grass or some kind of wild weed, but from time to time I did find some kind of a healing herb. Until I arrived at the hill area I found two kind of herbs, one of them was yellow colored herb named Herb of the wounded, and the other was Hero''s herb which was white in color. I had five of each and if I wasn''t mistaken these herbs are used for wounds. Ten more and I should clear the quest. Even if this seemed like an easy job I had to be careful not to break or crush the herbs, and to bring the whole batch back to Donar''s wife. I was slowly going up through the forest and into the mountain, but I didn''t want to go too far. As I was going up I found one more kind of herb. This was Svetovid''s herb, herb with white flowers, which got its name from Svetovid the All-seeing God with four heads. His four heads were looking at the for sides of the Earth and he could also see past and the future. It didn''t take long to find 20 herbs, apparently, herbs are more frequent than ores, which is logical, so it was easy to find them quickly. At one point as I was picking a Hero''s herb I heard some kind of strange growling behind me. I turned around to look but there was nothing there. I left the herb for later and I opened my eyes wide and I pricked up my ears to try to find out what was that sound. It didn''t take long to hear it again. It was closing on me and I could see it''s shadow from behind the tree and bushes. I could have sworn that it was a wild boar, but then it made a strange growl which made me think otherwise. It charged at me and then I saw it. It did have a shape of the wild boar but its tusks were a lot bigger than usual and its hair was darker almost black. It was a meter and a half tall, it''s length was two and a half meters. When I heard again it''s strange wild roar I had a sudden premonition that I heard it before. I didn''t have the time to think, as I was in grave danger. I tried to use the Appraisal but it didn''t work. This monster was probably a higher level than me. Because I saw it coming I dodged its first charge. The second appraisal was also unsuccessful but my first strike did manage to hit it. I could see red notification above it and in my head that showed number 45. That wasn''t a bad number but I could see that it made little damage to the monster. While it was turning around for another charge a tried using Appraisal third time. This time it was a success and I could see what was before me. Rage Beast (Wild Boar) Level 5 HP 3000 I could see wild boar being level 5 monster, but 3000 HP points were certainly too much. 1000 HP would be enough for a wild boar, even if put all my points to endurance I would have a little over 300 HP points. This being a Rage Beast should have to do something about its big health bar. In Slavic mythology Rage Beasts were evil spirits which would enter an animal or a human and make them go wild. The only thing I could do was to try to avoid it as much as possible and to hit it whenever I got a chance. If my average damage is 60 points per hit a would need 50 hits to kill it. I didn''t raise any stats because I wanted to get used to my staff and if it hit me I would probably be a goner anyway. I was running all around the trees and bushes trying to avoid its charges. Good thing was that those charges were it''s the only method of an attack at the moment, and I could see them very clearly. I also knew that Rage Beast won''t leave me alone, because it had me in its sight from the begging of our fight and their nature doesn''t allow them to leave their pray. With that in mind, I didn''t hurry killing it, and I also didn''t want to make a mistake which would spell an early arrival at the village for me. I landed stun 5 times and those 10 seconds were very useful. That was 5 hits with no need of thinking where to strike. I just hit it over its head and moved back as soon as stun expired. There were some close encounters nonetheless. One when the Rage Beast crushed into a tree which almost hit me in the head, and one when I missed the timing of its charge and it grazed me with its tusk over my left side. That wound only took me 20 HP but because it continued to bleed I had to finish this fight as soon as possible. Luckily at that point, the Rage Beast was left with only 500 HP left. After ten minutes of the hard and exhausting fight, I managed to land one critical hit with almost 100 damage over its head which ended its life. As soon as its body dropped down I found some shelter to sit down and look over my wound. It wasn''t that bad, but if left untreated it could probably lead to infection and death. I took some herbs from the leather bag, crushed them into a fine paste with my staff and I applied them over my wound. I put some leaves over it and I heard a notification in my ears. , You have learned skill Wound dressing" Wound dressing Level 0 0,7% Wounds are healing 0,5% faster Not bad I thought. This skill will always be useful. As I was very tired after the fight I didn''t notice that I raised in level, after killing the Rage Beast. I actually gained 2000 EXP from it. It seems that Rage Beasts are good for experience farming, but I am uncertain if there are a lot of them here. Maybe this was the only one. I almost forgot to check on the Rage Beast, to see if it dropped something, but I didn''t have my hopes up. As I surmised there was nothing. The developers said that the game was supposed to be realistic in every sense. This made sense, there were no animals that dropped equipment or coins when killed. The only change was its color it turned from black into its natural brown color. But it''s size stayed the same. If I had a knife and a skill to dismantle it, I could maybe gain something. Still, I couldn''t just leave it here. If I bring it back to the village, I could maybe trade it for some useful things. But first, to eat and sate my hunger, this fight made me very tired. I ate everything a brought with me and drank an almost full flask of water. Now I need to think about how to take the boar back to the village. I couldn''t carry it back I don''t have enough strength. If I go back for help when I return other animals may already find it. As I was turning around looking for some clues on what to do, my eyes fell upon the remains of the tree which was crushed in our fight. There was one big piece of it on which I could put the boar on. The only thing left is to find something to make it hold steady and to pull it back to the village. If I had some kind of a rope with me it would be easy. Well, next time when I go hunting I will make sure to bring some. After some looking around I found some liana on the forest floor and up some trees which I used to bind the boar to a piece of wood I prepared earlier. I tied it around my torso and stared going downhill. It wasn''t that hard, uphill would probably be a real struggle. From time to time I made short breaks when I saw herbs here and there. That way I could rest a little and also try to gain more experience from my quest. I needed several more herbs to gather another batch of it. That way I will be closer to level 4. Before I climbed down the hill I managed to gather enough herbs for another batch. Everything more and I could use my self or sell somewhere. I did saw some other beings walking back to the village, besides the villagers and players, if I don''t count the Rage Beast. There were some wild rabbits and small birds here and there, but as they didn''t take initiative to attack me I didn''t try to catch them either. Well, they probably wouldn''t even attack me anyways and I had my hands full with the boar. Even going downhill I needed over two hours to return to the village. An hour or two and sun would settle and it would be hard going through the dark forest. Village guards noticed me when I was close to the village and they saw I was pulling something behind me. When I passed the gates and sat beside the boar to rest, the only thing I could see from the guard''s expression was disbelief, awe and of course desire for a juicy piece of boar meat. Thankfully one of them snap out of it and asked me , Traveler are you willing to sell this boar to the village?" , Of course" I answered with a big smile on my face, who knows how much this big of a boar is worth. It could bring me a big profit. , Perfect" he said , let''s wait for the chief to return from the fields, it won''t be much longer" , Very well" I said , but let''s remove it from the gates first". As I was moving the boar I little away, with the help of the guards I couldn''t help but wonder what kind of benefits will my first pray bring me. 9 A strange encounter Chief and the rest of the villagers arrived shortly. Chief spoke with the guards a little and then came to me. He looked at the boar and then at me and finally said. , Young man, you really outdid yourself. When I first saw you a knew you were a special traveler, but I didn''t expect that you would surprise me this soon. I heard that you slew this beast on your own. Lord of the Forest was on your side this day." , Lord of the Forest was indeed on my side today. I pray to him to give me his blessings in the future too. But I must also thank the chief and Master Donar. With my new weapon, I managed to kill this Rage Beast and to return to the village alive." I raised my staff high so that the chief could see it clearly. , This is indeed Donars work. He rarely makes staffs but this one is a good one. But let us talk business now. I heard from guards that you want to sell this boar to the village." , Yes that is correct. But I would like to make something out of leather for myself and also to keep a little part of the meat." , That is not a problem but you would need a little so we can process the leather and the meat." , Of course, chief, I will still be staying in the village. If you need something from me just ask." , If I find some task for you I will certainly ask for you. Now, how much meat would you like to keep for yourself?" , Maybe two weeks worth of jerky." I said. , That is fine" said chief, now let us go to my house so that you can take your reward." Two villagers started pulling the boar, and I went after the chief. We arrived shortly at the chiefs house and I waited for him to get in and bring the reward. Chief handed me four silver coins and said to me. , I know this is not much but don''t worry we will make you a great leather armor and maybe even shoes if there are enough materials." , No worries chief I believe you, thank you for everything so far." , Young man, you are too humble. Come to my house in five days time, by then armor should be complete. If in the meantime I need something from you I will task the village guards to pass you the message." I bid the chief goodbye and logged out of the game. I was feeling a little tired, maybe my fight with the Rage Beast wasn''t as easy as it seemed in first place. I slept a little longer this time. Mental fatigue was a real thing a thought when I saw the time when I woke up. I took something to eat and went outside for a regular run. This became my routine since a started running every day after my father told me to take care of my body. Every morning I run for 10 km around our neighborhood, and I do some push ups and sit ups when I come home. This is enough for me, I mean I am not Wolf. Even though I don''t think that he needs exercising he used to be in the gym lifting weights every time he was of duty. Now, though since Age of Gods came out, the only thing he lifts above his head is an ax probably. Since we all had some time we had a little family gathering, talking about events that happened this week and what we will do next. After Sunday family lunch, and moms delicious apple pie, I once again entered the game. First I went to Donar''s smithy to thank him for making me an amazing staff, and then to his house after he told me that his wife needs more herbs. She told me to bring her as many herbs as I can and as a reward, I would get a little herb gathering spade. This toll shouldn''t be looked down because it will be a great help to me in the future when I gather herbs for my personal use. Like yesterday I would also gain EXP but this time only 500 for every 20 gathered herbs. I then went to the temple and prayed to Veles for safety in his forest. I hurried on my way and invigorated with my yesterday''s success went deeper in the forest. At first, I collected herbs at the edge of the forest but then I decided to try to go a little further away. As I was collecting the herbs the only animals I could see were small animals like rabbits on the ground or squirrels in the crowns of the three''s. From time to time I could also see birds flying above me freely in the air. Since I knew which herbs to collect, the work itself was relatively easy. I also saw some mushrooms but since I couldn''t identify them I passed by them in a case that they were toxic. As I was going through the forest I was starting to get careless. My victory from yesterday made me feel unbeatable, and the only thing I paid attention to were herbs. Then, after I dug out one herb I looked up and turned around and then I saw him. Lord of the forest. He was looking at me with his eyes which looked like a forest itself. His eyes were the first thing I saw, and as I was looking into them I thought I was in an ancient forest, in its hearth and that I will never get out. I looked into his and he into my eyes. How much time passed I have no idea. I managed to see him entirely, but his eyes were still looking at me, and I like possessed still had one eye on him. Even though this was the first time a saw a bear this close, I saw a few of them in the zoo when I was little, but I knew that there were not many of them looking like this. He was twice as big as the Rage Beast from yesterday, but if he would stand on two legs, I had a premonition that he could reach the sky. Everything about him seemed normal, his fur, his snout, his paws, and his build, it all said this is an ordinary brown bear. But the longer we looked at each other I could feel that this bear was not ordinary. I finally remembered to use Appraisal but no matter how many times I used it I could not find out what was exactly in front of me. This was maybe one of those famous wild bosses, bosses who roam specific regions or an even the entire world in some cases. The only thing I knew at this moment was not to upset him in any way. If this was as close to the reality as developers said it should be, bears should soon go into hibernation. When I realized that I freaked out even more. Before hibernation bears eat to gain strength for the winter sleep. I wouldn''t like to be his dessert before a big sleep. Maybe some greedier players would try to hunt this bear, but I knew that that was a fool''s errand. Not even a hundred players together could hunt this bear. I didn''t even have the slightest idea to try fighting it myself. First of all, even one of his paw strikes could and me, and the second even more important reason was that bear was a symbol of Veles. He even walked in bear for most of the time, if not his statue in the village wouldn''t be a bear but something else. Who knows this may be Veles himself. But whoever it was the only thing I could do right now was to wait. Wait and see what will his move be. How much time passed I don''t know. It could be a minute, an hour, or maybe even a year, maybe everything until now in my head was enough for one second to pass, I don''t know. Even though I looked at him all the time, finally I didn''t have enough strength to keep my eyes open so I blinked. The next moment when I opened my eyes he was gone. I was as surprised now, as I was when I first saw him. I looked all around me for a good minute, and when I calmed myself down a little my knees dropped and I lied down on the grass filled with relief. I looked into the sky wondering what just happened. I tried to figure it out but I couldn''t. This was what it was supposed to be like, I thought. As realistic as possible. I could even feel sweat dripping down from my forehead onto the ground. I decided not to relax in any kind of situation wherever I found myself in the future. Also, I decided not to kill animals in the forest for leveling, only if there is a good reason. I wouldn''t like to make Veles mad after all. Who knows what punishment he could rain upon me or anyone by the way in the future. Maybe it wouldn''t come immediately but someday when you hope the least divine punishment may come for any of us. Not just Veles, it wouldn''t be good to anger any of the gods. In mythology divine punishment was not so rare of an occurrence. If someone angers Perun I imagine that the lighting and thunder would fall upon him at once. After I finally calmed down, I continued with my herb gathering. Honestly, I didn''t pay attention at all at my surroundings, even if I decided to always do so. I thought that after this strange encounter nothing out of the ordinary would happen today. I was right by the way, the rest of the day was as boring as one of my classes, in the eyes and ears of most of my students. I continued with finding herbs and filling my bag with them. Because I had the almost full bag I decided to start moving towards the village. I went a little towards the fields with a thought that I will maybe find some herbs over there. And I wasn''t wrong there were a lot of herbs in that area. Having nothing else to do I pulled herbs left and right not caring for anything else. In one moment I heard a notification in my head. , You have learned skill Herb Gathering Herb Gathering Passive Skill Increase double the speed of gathering herbs" I was really surprised at first. But then I remembered that I collected more than a hundred herbs in total including yesterday. This skill will be very useful in the future. If I can I should learn more about herbs. Who knows if there will be any healing classes, so herbs will be essential for dressing wounds if needed. Since I collected over 80 herbs today I decided that I could return to the village. I went directly to Donar''s wife where I gained 2000 more EXP and also a little spade. Herb gathering spade Common Attack 1-2 Herb Gathering skill +1 A tool for gathering herbs Nice, I thought, this tool can be used forever. This will significantly reduce my time in gathering herbs which can be used for many different things. I also raised my level by one, now I am level 3. Now, what should I do for the next level? Maybe I can gather herbs again tomorrow. And what do you know, I can. Donar''s wife said that I can bring as many as I can. The only reward was 500 EXP for every 20 herbs, but this was a great leveling method. I should use it for as long as possible and raise my level again. 10 Leveling at its greates A new week came, second after the Age of Gods got out, and like last week players gave their all into leveling and trying to come on top of everyone else. After a couple of first days where everyone was booing the Universal Gaming for making an impossible game, came a moment of recognition, when players decided to stop complaining and started to immerse themselves into the game. Even forums quieted down a little. Forums are platforms to share things and knowledge between players, but since there were so little things that could be shared and everything was important, a very small number of players shared something with each other. There were players on them of course but not in the number when the game was released. But one little thing is enough for the forums to explode, it will only take some time. For me, one of the food things was that school was always in the before noon so that I can continue playing without worry. Marco played whenever he wanted, but Wolf had shifts, so he sometimes played when the game was in its night hours. In school, I gave the test to every class I had today which gave me an opportunity to browse through the forms a little. As I said there were not that many interesting things to read about. The only thing worth noting was the PK system. Every game had it''s on PK system, this was no different. First of all, players killed by the monsters lost one piece of equipment and 10% of EXP until next level. PK players, on the other hand, lost two pieces, or even more if their PK value surpassed a certain number of kills. Also, they lost 30% of their leveling progress. Even worse was if they were caught. One post on the forums said that a certain group of people from the Asian server got killed by the same player. When they found out that their number is almost a dozen they made a deal to catch their enemy, which they did. They knew that the prison system should be implemented in the game also, so they brought him back to the village to the guards. He was tied with the rope in the guard house for 10 hours, one hour for every killed player. PK players said that if you want to remove your red status, which could be seen with Appraisal above players head, you need to wait outside the village for as many hours as needed and not to get caught, or to kill a certain number of monsters. Since monsters are not that easy to beat, waiting and hiding was an easier way. It seems that reward I promised to the students worked since most of them worked diligently on their tests during the class. Maybe some of them may reach 80%. But just maybe. I talked with Maria and Anna during the breaks about the game and how are they doing. They were done with the farming and now they are founding different ways to raise their levels. I could only give them some tips from my experience, and tell them to try to gather herbs or to explore the further vicinity of their village and maybe find something useful. When I told them to always pay attention to their surroundings and described them my close encounter with the bear, they both gasped. Anna covered her mouth with her small hands and I think Maria saw me in a new light. , It must have been scary, right professor?" asked me, Anna , Not as much scary as surprising and exciting" I said with great confidence in myself, well, after it happened and when I fell on the ground I then realized how dangerous it was. Ha ha ha ha." Both of them started laughing with me, which made me very happy. I rarely talked to girls so this was one of the rare opportunities. After some small chat about our school matters, we started going to the classes. After school, I went straight home, had lunch with my family and after superficially looking through the tests I logged into the game. Marco and Wolf were both online so we chatted a little about the game and what are we doing at the moment. I didn''t have to go to receive the quest again, but I had to go get my daily provisions, so after I went to the temple I exited the village and started my herb hunting. Since I almost cleared the forest I decided to go around the village from the fields and then finishing my day at the forest in the evening. Beyond the fields was another forest so I went there first and then started going south. There were a lot of herbs in this region so it was really easy gathering them. They were the same as yesterday since the region was covered in them and it was their season. Like in reality, in the game was also autumn so the herbs that were still there were only available now. This made me think about the winter. Since there are almost no herbs still alive in the winter I should also gather herbs for my own use. By the time arrived at the cemetery I had an almost half full bag with the herbs. When I arrived at the Little Rock I had my lunch and started going up in the hills. In the hills, I gathered herbs whenever I found one and I also tried to do some training. The only time I used my staff was against the Rage Beast so I wanted to get used to it more. Since I didn''t use any kind of weapon before and will probably use this staff in the future I wanted to see what kind of actions I can do with it. Well, there were not many things I could do without experience. I didn''t know any kind of staff technique. Do only thing I can do was to just beat the trees with the staff. One strike from above and then one strike from the side. Then again and again. I thought simple was the best. At least that is what I heard from Wolf. As he is a policeman he was well versed in different kind of martial arts. He said that the most important thing was the basics. So I thought that the basics of staff techniques were strikes. And I practiced that way. After I collected a certain number of herbs I gained Herb Gathering skill, given that fact I assumed that staff-related skill could be born if I practice enough with it. A little bit of staff practice and a little bit of gathering this day passed in an easygoing manner. I collected 5 batches of herbs and gained 2500 EXP making to level 4. To bad that the week-long buff expired yesterday, but this kind of leveling was rewarding nonetheless. I also gained one endurance point from my practice. Not bad for a days work. Still, this won''t last long maybe a day or two and then I would need to find a different method to raise my level. I was right, after two days there was no need for more herbs in the village. But my gains were significant. I gathered 10 batches of herbs in two days, which made me level 5 and I also gained one point in both endurance and strength. I am certain that this kind of leveling won''t happen again, Raising level by collecting herbs was probably a one-time thing. Not that it bothered me. I was very satisfied that I had this kind of easy quest to raise my level. I can only pray to gods that sometime in the future I can get quests this easy. Not likely but not impossible I thought. But what am I going to do now? Chief said that I should go to him in five days time for the leather armor. I had one more day so I should find something to do. The obvious solution was staff practice. One whole day practicing with the staff should bring some benefits. So I did it. After I came from school since I had some time until lunch I went through some moves with the staff in my room. Since I didn''t have a staff I could only move my hands up and down, left and right. Good thing no one came in the room. They would think that I am crazy for sure. I also graded the tests and what do you know there was actually a half a dozen students who reached my 80% limit. I could only think what should I reward them with. I was honestly surprised. I thought maybe one or two of them could make it by some miracle, but it seems that, ... let me see how much exactly of them made it, ...five, six, seven, ... seven. Seven of them in total. Not bad, that is seven times more, then in my time at school. Of course, only I had the highest grade in my generation. If Age of Gods came out then maybe there would be more interested students in history, or maybe my promise of reward had something to do with it. Well, I will think about reward over the weekend. After lunch, I entered the game and first went to the temple. Since today was practice only day, I didn''t know to which god to pray. I chose Perun at the end, first to see what kind of buff I could get from him and because he was the main god. Who knows if he will get mad if I don''t pray to him from time to time. His blessing was very peculiar. It gave a player 5 points in strength and 5 in intelligence. Two opposite attributes which don''t complement each other. But that wasn''t all. As the main god, Perun also gave 5 additional lightning damage. Lightning gave a decent stun chance so this fact proved Perun was very generous. I also went to the well to fill my flask and then to Donar''s wife to get a meal for today. Then it was time to find a quiet place somewhere so I can practice in peace. Players finished with the farming couple a days ago so they were also trying to find alternative ways to raise their levels. I needed to find a place without any commotion. Where could I find a deserted place where no one goes? There were two options I could remember. One was a cemetery, which I immediately ruled out and the other was the area around the Little Rock. These two places were empty of players most of the day. There was nothing around them so rarely someone visited these two places. I decided upon Little Rock because there were some old tree husks which I could hit all day without concern. Not much time was needed to reach my destination and as soon as I got there I started my practice. One hit from above, then one diagonally, then from the side and one from below. I wanted to hit from any angle possible. This should enable me to have a decent amount of possibilities in my fighting style, in my future fights, with any kind of an opponent. This staff was easy to wield, thanks to Master Donar''s meticulous craftsmanship. After all, he made it, especially for my use. After strikes, I started practicing thrusts. Even though thrust was a move mainly used in spear techniques, they could be also used with staff. Staffs and spears were similar in design, the only striking difference was a blade on top of the spear. Nevertheless, staff could also be used for thrusts if for only one reason, to break the balance of your opponent. Since I wasn''t well versed in martial arts I could only try my best, with any kind advice Wolf can give me and my own imagination. Imagination was also important. Wolf said that martial artists also practice with imaginary opponents so that they could be ready for any kind of a situation. I also tried using my imagination to create an opponent for myself, but since this was my first time I could only do so in the smallest steps. Practice makes perfect, every accomplished older person used to say and keep saying this proverb. By the end of the day, I gained one more strength point and as I predicted I did manage to learn staff related skill. Staff Mastery Passive Skill Level 0 beginner level 0.1% Damage with the staff has a 5% increase 11 Hunting for real Again Friday morning, one more school week passed. This one faster than the last. Finally, I will get new equipment. As I had only two classes today I arrived home early and had some free time. I exercised a little and finished with the grading all the tests. There were seven of the students who reached 80% mark, but there were also a lot of students who passed the test. That made me very happy, maybe all of them strived for the reward but most of the students passing was a lot better than usual. During the lunch, Hope reminded me to buy her a helmet. I must confess that I almost forgot about that so I did the only thing I could. , Don''t worry Hope I didn''t forget. What do you think that the two of us go tomorrow morning to the gaming shop and buy you one?" , Really brother?" she asked excitedly , Yes of course" i said,, You can''t play right away but as soon as you can you would have the helmet anyway. I can also give you some tips about the game on the way." , Yes, thank you brother, if you don''t get up early tomorrow I will wake you up so don''t worry." I could only smile at that. She knew very well that I like to sleep a little longer during the weekend. I promised her so there are no excuses. When I entered the game I quickly went to the chiefs house. I hope that the leather armor was waiting for me. Chief was at his home. The only time he was out, was when he had to deal with matters concerning the whole village. He was sitting outside his house on the only wooden chair I saw outside any house in the village. He was resting with his eyes closed, probably thinking about the village. When he heard me nearing him he opened his eyes and talked to me. , Young man, you are here. Good your armor is ready. We managed to make you two pieces. One leather vest and one leather pants." , Thank you chief, thank you very much." , Haha don''t mention it. You brought it back to the village so it should naturally be yours. Wait for me here I will bring them to you in a moment." he said and then entered his house. Not much time passed and he exited his house with leather armor in his hands. He handed them to me and said , What do you think, we did our best I hope it will suit you?" I looked at the vest and the pants and could only thank the chief again. No matter the options and stats it had it didn''t matter. In the first place, how many players had a armor at this time. Not just one but two pieces. And I even had a rare weapon. I looked at the pieces of armor again and then put them on. They were actually very well made, Especially the vest. Rage Beast vest(boar) set equipment Uncommon Leather armor Defense +15 Endurance +6 Set effect 2/2 Defense +5 Rage Beast pants(boar) set equipment Uncommon Leather armor Defense +10 Endurance +4 Set effect 2/2 Defense +5 And it was actually a set. It may have only two pieces and bonus it gives is 5 defense but nonetheless, it was very useful. Thinking about something I asked the chief. , Chief if I can bring you more meat for the village can you also make something else, shoes for example." , Of course, whatever you bring from the wild we will take it. Making you the shoes is also possible. But the jerky is not ready yet just so you know." , Not a problem chief I can wait for the jerky until I leave the village, but is there anything I can do for you?" I asked him hoping for a quest. If there is affinity in this game it isn''t numerically stated. But I knew that I was close with the chief so I hoped for a quest. But the reality was cruel. , Nothing for today but maybe there will be something in the future for you to help with." As I finished everything with the chief I went my way. One prayer to the Perun and one ready lunch later I exited the village and went into the hills and mountains. I didn''t even know what am I going to hunt in the first place, but I thought that the mountain was a good place to start. After all, I did found the Rage Beast in a similar place. Maybe there will be more of them. This time I went higher into the mountain then the first time a encountered my first monster. I thought that the higher I go the better chance to encounter one. I was very careful about going through the forest. Last time I only had my staff, today I have an armor but that is no reason to be easygoing. What if a pack of monsters comes in front of me all of a sudden. Not even a metal armor will help me then. Since I saw that strange bear in the forest I thought that there were not that many other predators roaming through the forest. That is why decided to move to the higher grounds. From time to time I could hear strange howling from the mountain. The higher I climbed the more discerning it was. I was right about the place but hearing those sounds somewhat made me reluctant to continue. But nothing ventured nothing gained. I was very careful about not alarming whatever was living there. And it was not one monster but many. At first, I thought that it was wolves but that familiar sound in their voices made me realize that all of them were Rage Beasts, this time in form of the wolves. By the sound of it, I would tell at least four or five of them. I finally arrived at one clearing where I could see far away in the distance. There were no more trees anywhere in a radius of few kilometers after I exited the area with the trees. I didn''t dare to proceed any further because I was afraid I would be spotted. On one wall of the mountain was a big hole. It was maybe three or four meters in height and a little bigger in width. How deep it was I couldn''t be sure because I could only see the entrance. I could see two beasts lying down in front of the entrance. There were probably more of them inside. They were too far for me to use Appraisal on them. I hid in the shadows of the trees and started to think about a plan to lure them over to me. If I showed myself in front of them I would do nothing but court death. I wasn''t sure if I can deal with two of them so I needed to find the way to lure only one. Patience was crucial here. I only need one to separate themselves from the other and to come near me. I waited almost an hour. One of them stood up, made a strange nasal sound and started going towards the forest where I was. Halfway it stopped and looked around and howled in a low voice. Don''t go back I thought to myself, come a little closer. Like it heard me, it started moving again. Some 50 meters was left until it came into the forest. At first, I maybe thought to throw some rock at it, or branch of a tree, but then I realized that that could make it nervous and call for help. So I took one big branch and started to beat bushes around the trees. I hoped that this can work and that only this one will come to me. It worked somehow and it started approaching me. I slowly started retreating from my spot back into the forest. This distance was still close to the rest of them so I didn''t want to take any chances. I knew that it won''t let me go if it saw me so I tried to hide from it for as long as possible. Half a kilometer later I finally revealed myself. It saw me and I saw it clearly now. It was a wolf, but a lot bigger than the regular one. It was a little smaller in height than the boar I encountered previously, but it was almost a meter longer. When it saw me it bolted right at me. The speed was two times faster than the boars. As soon as I saw its speed I knew that I couldn''t beat it. I immediately put ten unused stat points into agility. Was it enough I wondered. If it wasn''t I must put more points into agility. I was standing right in front of a big oak tree, trying to make it collide with it. At the same time, I tried to avoid it, I used Appraisal on it. It worked on the first try. Rage Beast (Wolf) Level 8 5000 HP It was certainly a lot stronger than the wild boar. First of all, it was more agile. Wolves were agile by nature so it didn''t come as a surprise. It came right at me. It was faster than me for certain. Before I could put more points into agility I had to survive the first attack. It went for my throat right of the bat. By some pure miracle, or maybe my practice paid off I managed to thrust my staff right into its abdomen. That made it flinch a little but it still managed to swipe me with its claw. Luckily I had my new vest on. It did manage to take me a decent amount of HP, but thanks to the vest there were no wounds that could threaten me with bleeding. After the first exchange, I immediately put 10 more points in agility and 10 in endurance just to be safe. The attacks of the wild boar were straightforward so I didn''t need to pay that much attention to my health bar, but this one attacked from every side so I had to be on my toes all the time. I always tried to be a staff length away from it, and whenever it attacked I tried to avoid it. Its weak spot like with the most of the mammal animals was it''s belly so I tried to hit him there as much as possible. Perun''s blessing and my staff also helped a lot. Every tenth strike was I sure stun and thanks to the lightning damage from the blessing sometimes it had a second longer duration. And every time I stunned it I tried to heat the weak spot. Thanks to the Rage Beast set my health managed to hold down until the wolf finally fell dead on the ground. It gave me 4000 EXP which almost made me level 6. One more and I could make it. One more and that would be it for today. I wasn''t sure if I can beat more of them today, but I knew that not one, but with two of them missing, will make the rest of the Rage Beasts restless. First, I had to take care of my wounds and eat my lunch. This fight had me on edge all the time and I was almost depleted of energy. Using the herbs would also improve my Wound Dressing skill, and I did have a bunch of them from all the previous days I collected them. I needed time to recover myself so I rested for a whole hour. By that time I was both mentally and physically ready for my next fight. The only thing uncertain was will the second Rage Beast that was lying down by the hole come to me. 12 Buying a helmet for Hope I didn''t have to wait that long at all. I could hear someone approaching. It would seem that this one came by itself. This was good for me but I still wanted to finish the next fight quickly and come back to the village as soon as possible. I didn''t want to risk anything. I immediately stood up and looked around myself. I could see and hear that a little left of me another Rage Beast was steadily moving towards me. It pounced on to me as soon as it saw me. Even with the corpse of its comrade didn''t gain any recognition from the newcomer. Well, that is good for me. I thought that seeing it dead it would be even madder than it already is. Using Appraisal after the fourth time I found out that this one was actually slightly weaker than the previous Rage Beast. It was Level 7. Good, it will be easier with this one. With the experience from the one before and the fact that this one was a little slower, I needed only half an hour to finish it. With that, I was Level 6. Not bad for today. Anyway, I should probably get going. I wouldn''t like to fight more than one of them at the same time. And I have to bring them down the mountain. But that is a problem of its own. I forgot the rope. And there are two of them. Can I even move them by myself? One of them maybe lighter than the boar, but there are two of them here. Maybe I can pull them back to the village by their tales. I tried but I wasn''t strong enough. I can pull one of them but not the both. The only solution is to put some of my unused points into the strength. I put 10 points in strength and tried again. It worked, but I wasn''t sure if I could pull them like that all the way down. It was hard, very hard. Even fighting them was easier. I had to stop a few times and rest, or my hands would have fallen off my body. But right before the sunset I finally managed to enter the village. There two of the guards took the wolves from me and we hurried towards the chiefs house. Chief said that he didn''t have a particular use for the wolves because their meat was not edible. He said that his father once tried it and said it was springy and not delicious even with the spices. But he also said that this kind of a leather could be sold to the merchants. The one that is usually trading with this village will be here in two days and then I can sell the wolf skin to him. I could only agree. The wolves leather would be skinned by the village hunters and they will store them until the merchant arrives. I also asked the chief about the rope and he said that I can find it if I go to Donar tomorrow. I thanked him and logged out of the game. I slept for a few hours before I heard Hope knocking on my door. , Get up brother, we need to go to the game shop to buy me a helmet, don''t tell me you forgat." , I am up, I am up, don''t worry, let''s have a breakfast first and then we can go." It would seem that Hope couldn''t wait anymore. How will she wait when she gets it I wonder. There are nine more days until her eighteen birthday, she will probably look into the helmet whenever she has free time. After we had breakfast, we got ready and left the house. We were slowly walking to the metro station and talked about the game. Well, it was mostly I who talked while Hope listened. Trough the whole ride on the metro I continued my story and she listened with great attention. My story ended right when we exited the metro station in the city center. , Wow big brother, I didn''t know you were so good at the game. There are not many great numbers of players that managed to raise their level so quickly as you did." , Ha ha ha, well even I didn''t know that I would have such good luck. But grandpa did teach me all of the mythology so I just needed somewhere where I could use that knowledge. I can do that in the Age of Gods." , I miss grandpa and grandma." said Hope with sadness. Our father''s parents were living with us so both me and Hope were deeply tied to them. First, grandma died and not even a year later, grandpa followed her. Mom''s parents are still alive but we don''t see them that often because they live in a different city. But we still see them once or twice a year for a couple of weeks usually when it is school break or when it is some celebration day. They will come to us to celebrate Hopes birthday together. , I miss them too" I said. Even though I spent most of my time with grandpa listening to his stories, I also missed my grandma a lot. Grandpa stories stayed with me, but I could never eat grandmas cookies and cakes again. Seeing that the mood was getting a little darker I returned to our previous conversation. , So what do you think about the game so far. You must have heard a lot from your friends right? What are you going to do when you start playing? It is very hard in the beginning." " Don''t I have you brother, weren''t you going to help me?" she said making a sad face. , Haha, don''t be like that" I knew she was only pretending, of course, I will help you but who knows where will you show up when you enter the game for the first time. We can be far away from each other, it may take a lot of time in the game, maybe days or even months until we can see each other." , Well it will work out somehow" she said with a convinced smile like she already had a solution for everything. Since it was weekend city was crowded a lot. People usually rested on the weekend, went shopping in the malls or watched movies. There were a lot of parents with little children going around and a lot of couples going from coffee shops and all kinds of stores with bags in their hands. As we were walking through the streets I could see a game shop a little further away. Since games were very popular nowadays it wasn''t a surprise to see many people in front or inside the shop. Every year there would be all kinds of different game competitions. They weren''t regular as sports competitions, because it could happen that one game replaces the other, but games were always there. There were a lot of people inside the shop but most of them were talking about the Age of Gods or were playing games on the game machines. Fighting games were popular even in our grandparents times, so there were a lot of people dueling each other. The ones who wanted to play the Age of Gods already bought helmets, so the only ones that would still buy them were kids like Hope who still had to turn eighteen. At the counter game, shop employee saw us coming so he put a smile on his face and asked. , Sir what can I help you with?" , I want to buy a helmet for my little sister, she will turn eighteen soon and she wants to play Age of Gods." , Certainly sir, right away. Do you perhaps want a special color?" The employee asked Hope. , Red one" said Hope and rushed to the entrance of the game shop only telling me that she saw a friend from the track and field and that I take care of everything. I only could only awkwardly smile to the employee and tell him to proceed with the procedure. Procedure for buying a gaming helmet was not that complicated. I just had to fill in some forms and they had to check some things and that''s it. Binding the helmet to one person was also easy. When you put it on for the first time it will scan your eyes and that is it. Since it has all the details beforehand helmet also functions as a safety device, since there is nothing a person can do on the virtual net if there are restrictions of some kind. A good example of that is virtual gaming and restriction for those who are not yet of age according to law. So even if Hope has the helmet she can''t play the Age of Gods until her birthday. As I was finishing the procedure for buying a helmet I heard Hope behind me. , Big brother look, this is Mia my friend from track and field. She also came to buy a helmet. Her birthday is in a couple of days, so she came with her sister to buy one now." , Nice to meet you" I said as I offered my hand for I handshake, I am Novak." , Nice to meet you too, I am Mia and this is my sister Maria." I almost stretched out my hand again for another handshake, but who knew that I already knew the person before me. It was my secret crush, professor Maria. Since I turned around to Hope and Mia first I didn''t pay attention to my other side. What a coincidence I thought. , Professor Maria I didn''t know you had a sister." Even if we talked during the breaks in school we rarely talked about our private lives, so I had no idea that she had a sister and that even she and Hope knew each other. , I also didn''t know that you had a sister, professor Novak." She said with an enchanting smile. , You two know each other?" asked two girls in surprise at the same time. , We work together" I nodded and smiled at Maria and she smiled back. , Is that right?" Hope and Mia turned to each other and whispered something. I thought I saw then smiling cheekily at each other but I didn''t pay much attention, my eyes were still glued to the beautiful woman in front of me. Breaking my mind of thought Hope asked me: , Brother can we go with Mia and her sister to eat and drink something, I would like one big hamburger and a pancake." Before saying, but you already ate, Mia also said: , I am hungry too, Maria can we go?" I looked at Maria and shrugged my shoulders. I didn''t know what to say. , Fine" said Maria, we can eat but not much, you know that they will wait for us for lunch." , Brother?" asked me Hope with her eyes and Mia joined her. I looked at Maria again and said. , Very well let us finish here and go to find some delicious food. It''s my treat." I was the only man here, and I couldn''t allow myself to let Maria pay. That would be the end of my self-respect. , Yes" two girls celebrated in a great mood. It is just a meal and it''s not like that they don''t see each other that often, well teenage girls I could never understand them. After Maria finished buying a helmet for Mia, we started walking to the nearest fast food restaurant. Fast food was somewhat a luxury these days. Ages ago it was a food for busy people, and it made people fat and sick. But since now a healthcare is very developed and people are not that busy with work, fast food shops, tracks, and carts became an allowed sin. We sat and ordered food and drinks. Hope and Mia started talking about the game and Maria and I only stared at each other for a while. It was super awkward. 13 Was this a date? For me it was very awkward I don''t know how Maria felt. Then it became even more. Hope started to talk about my progress in game and Mia always made question after question. It seemed that Maria was also interested in hearing about my adventure so far. Then she started talking about my fight with the Rage Beasts. If I didn''t do it myself I would have thought that killing them would be impossible, from the way Hope described it. She exaggerated way too much. While she was talking all excited Mia asked and then what happened, and then what happened. I had a feeling that I was a movie character. I signed when it finally ended. I didn''t like to be a center of attention. Or to be more precise I was never one. In school when we were still young there were times when The Nerdy Trio was somewhat center of attention but we didn''t care about that and there were three of us, so we didn''t feel embarrassed at all. , Professor Novak I didn''t know that you were this good." said Maria with questioning gaze. , Well, neither did i." That was the only thing I could find the strength to say, as I took a big sip of soda. , It would seem that I really need to take that offer about playing together with you." said Maria. , Uh, um" words got stuck in my mouth when I heard her , yes, of course, it would be very nice to play together. Judging by my experience so far it would be very hard to play solo. By the way, how are the two of you doing professor?" I asked thinking about her''s and Anna''s progress so far. , We are both Level 5" she said , and you don''t have to call me professor when we are not in school, just call me by my name." , Well then you can do the same" I said, thinking yesss, we are on first name basis now. , Then we can all play together." Said Hope with Mia nodding beside her. , We will see, if we can find each other in the game then that is possible." I answered. We talked a little more and than we said goodbye and went each other way. While we were returning home, Hope glanced at me from time to time giggling by herself. , What is so funny?" , Haha brother you are so dense, you like her don''t you?" , Like who, what do you mean?" I tried to sound as convincing as possible but Hope wasn''t tricked. , Haha it was obvious from the moment you saw her, why do think me and Mia wanted to eat?" I wanted to say because you were hungry, but then I remember the way two of them looked at each other and talked something in quiet voices. Of course, they did it on purpose. What hunger they even didn''t finish their meal in the end. What is Maria going to think about that I wondered? , Why did you do that, what if Maria didn''t allow Mia to eat with you?" , But she didn''t, didn''t she, maybe she also likes you brother." Could it be? I mean we were working almost half a year now, I could have noticed something. Or maybe she is the same as me, not having the courage to talk to the opposite sex. But that is not possible I thought, she is very beautiful and smart, she could have any guy she wanted. Who would have thought that she may like me? Maybe I do have a chance with her. I must ask her on a real date soon and maybe I will find out. Wait a minute, was this I date then? Was it? I don''t know if it counts when your sisters are with you. Never mind, at least I saw her and talked with her outside the school. That has to be something. When we got home, Hope told are parents that I will have a girlfriend soon. My parents almost jumped from the couch. I tried to explain to them what actually happened, but it seemed like they didn''t hear anything. When I finally pacified them and told them what exactly happened, my mother just smiled nodding her head vigorously and my father said: , Son your time of youth finally came don''t waste it just go for it." It almost sounded like a command, and I could see that mothers eyes said give us the grandchildren. I swear they really said that. Whole lunch went through with my mom and dad asking Hope about Maria. What is she like, is she pretty and so on, and so on. I could only listen and nod my head when the two of them looked at me. I could only wait for lunch to end to go to my room and go into the game. Entering the game I again asked myself was it really a date. First thing I did when I entered the game was to go into the temple pray, then I went to get my provisions for today and to fill my flask at the well. Then I went to Donar''s smithy to get the rope. Walking to the smithy I was thinking is there anything else I need to have for hunting but also for the future when I leave the village. I had a weapon, vest and pants, my money pouch, one big leather bag for the herbs and little spade for digging herbs, one small bag for food and my water flask. What else do I need? Shoes would be good, rope for certain, one bigger leather bag for food and one more water flask. Maybe a proper belt would nice so that I can hang the spade on it and anything else I could get in the future. Well, I will try to find something useful when the merchant arrives in the village. Donar was in his smithy hammering the metals on the anvil, sparks flying everywhere. He didn''t seem to mind them though. All those years in the smithy, he probably got used to the fire. His fire resistance must be pretty high. Building resistance to the elements must be very hard in the Age of Gods. , Boy what brings you to me today?" said Donar as I showed up at the smithy entrance. , Hello Donar, Chief said that I could get some rope from you, I need it to pull the beast from the mountain back to the village when I hunt them." , Is that so?" asked he, more himself than me , Come inside, you will find several ropes hanging on the wall, take one of them." He continued hammering and left me to what I got here to do. I didn''t want to loiter longer than needed so I went in to get the rope. One the walls there were all different kinds of weapons and farming tools. Mostly there were swords, spears, and axes some shields and a few metal armors. On the farming end, there were shovels, spades, pickaxes, and little plows. I found the rope on the wall took one and went outside. When I asked Donar how much he just waved aside one of his hands and continued his work. I said goodbye and went towards the mountain. As I was walking to my hunting spot I looked for herbs, trying to raise my skill, and also to have more herbs in reserve. From time to time I could see and hear different kind of animals from the forest, and the sky. Since my encounter with that strange bear, it seems that my senses became more open than before. Was it because I didn''t want to be surprised like that again or something else, but the fact is that I could see and hear more than before. I could hear the leaves fluttering from the wind, insects buzzing here and there and birds singing from the tree branches. In a moment I could see a squirrel climbing one tree holding something in its tiny paws, looking around like a little thief that stole something it didn''t belong to them. High in the sky, I could hear the cry of an eagle. It was circling in the sky with its big wings waiting for a pray to show itself somewhere on the ground. The higher I went the sounds became quieter until the only thing I could hear was eagles cry and strange growling. When I finally arrived at the spot near the clearing only the sound of Rage Beasts could be heard. What surprised me at that time was that there were three of them walking around that clearing. It would seem that my visit from yesterday didn''t pass unnoticed. One thing after another, there are always some problems. If all three of them rush at me at the same time I would become their food in a blink of an eye. This time an elaborate plan was needed if I wanted to kill off three of them. Looking carefully I noticed that one of them was a boar. At first, I was surprised, but then I had an idea. It seemed that Rage Beasts don''t discriminate between different species. If there were a rabbit Rage Beasts they would also be here, I thought. But Rage Beasts are usually big and predatory animals. So one boar and two wolves. Boar will be easy but if those two Rage Beasts in wolf clothing attack at the same time it would be dangerous. But I decided to take a risk and try to catch them at the same time. To do that I would need to prepare. I am going to dig a hole and try to make one of the wolves fall in. Will that be enough I don''t know but it will certainly buy me some time. I had all day to prepare everything so I decided to return quickly to the village and get something which could help me in hunting them. I run as quickly as I could back to the village, which made the guards look with extreme caution in the direction I came from. They gave me an even stranger look when they saw me running back with the shovel and pickax and rushing back to the mountain. Several players which were passing the gates at that time also gave me a strange look. One of them even asked have I found some treasure when they saw digging tools. , One boar and two wolves." I responded politely and continued on my way. What was their reaction I don''t know, but I could faintly hear two words from behind me, crazy and fool. Maybe it seemed that way, no one would dare to hunt like this, at least not in my village. How will they react when they see me coming back with my catch in tow. Haha, they will be jealous for sure. But first thing first, I need to catch than before returning triumphantly to the village. When I came back I first checked if they were still there. They are still here, good, it would seem that they won''t move from there for now. Nevertheless, I still have to be cautious not to alarm them in any circumstances. Now I need to find a place to dig a hole big enough for a wolf to be trapped in. Walking around this part of the forest I finally found a good place. There were two trees about three meters apart, and then a little clearing with no trees. After that came more trees and there were no more any clearings. I decided that I will make a trap at the center of it, and lure them in this direction. I leaned the shovel on a tree, took the pickax, pulled my sleeves and started working. Hard work, here I am. Did you miss me? 14 Puting a plan into work One hit, two hits, I tried to count thinking that it may be easier that way. It wasn''t I will tell you that. After I made a small dent, I put away the pickax and took the shovel. What can I say about this process? Boring, monotonous work is not for everybody. If I didn''t have to catch the Rage Beasts, I wouldn''t do this even if I got paid for it. No wonder robots do everything now, we humans are so lazy that even making a bed in the morning is a chore. Or is it only me?. Well, the Rage Beasts won''t dig the hole themselves and willingly step into it. Two hours later one big hole appeared deep into the forest. Three meters deep and three meters wide, it should be enough for a wolf to be trapped in. I dispersed the earth around the hole and started gathering the branches from trees to hide the hole. I didn''t think that intelligence of Rage Beasts would be high enough for them to notice the hole, but I wanted to be sure. They just rush at the pray when they see one, but maybe they could somehow avoid the hole. I didn''t just borrow a shovel and a pickax from Donar. I also borrowed a knife. It wasn''t a big knife but for making wooden stakes it should be enough. I put enough stakes to cover the hole and then used the tree branches to cover the trap. Will it be enough to kill one of them I don''t know. but to slow them down and wound them I sure hope so. Since they usually run straight towards the pray I also thought of another obstacle. After the trap when one of them drops in, two of them will continue to chase me. So when I pass between the trees they should also be behind me. There were a few trees in line with the trap so I took my rope and tied it down by the ground so that I can slow them down even more. After I tied rope I looked around to make sure what is where and not to fall into my own trap. That would be tragic and hilarious at the same time. After preparing everything I drunk my fill of water and eat my meal. A piece of bread and two pieces of jerky may not be all that delicious but it was enough to soothe the hunger and to give me energy for what is to come. I prepared everything and the only thing left to do was to put the plan in motion and execute it swiftly and without flaws. Standing at the edge of the forest I was looking at the Rage Beasts in the distance. Boar was at my right side, one wolf was on the left and the other was in the middle. I didn''t want to wait any longer in case that they move around and change their placing, so I started closing in on them very slowly. As soon as they see me I will run back into the forest. Couple steps out the woods and crazily waving my hands in the air did the trick. All three of them saw me and run straight for me. I run back into the forest area and the chase began. I ran very carefully, trying not to trip somewhere, turning my head around from time to time. I wanted to be sure about their positions, but there was no need as they stayed on their paths, not straying even a millimeter. With no need to turn my head around all the time I ran at full speed only looking at the ground. As I was nearing the trap, the path in the forest was narrowing down, and the Rage Beasts also neared each other. Good, I thought, this way there is a greater chance for one of them to fall into the trap. A couple more steps until the trap, I felt like an eternity passed. I run around trying not looking back at all. I pricked up my ears expecting to hear branches breaking and moaning of a wounded beast. I heard a snapping sound and a loud painful moan. It sounded like a wounded raging beast, not that I heard it before. I didn''t have time for thinking about the one that fell into the trap. I continued running thinking about the fight before me. Three or four seconds were enough for me to make to the rope. I jumped over it and after several steps more I turned around. One wolf was coming at me. Boar was nowhere in sight. I wondered what happened for a moment, but as soon as the wolf tripped over the rope I made my move at once. I made a big swing over my head and thanks to the opening I created with the rope I managed to land the first hit. My strike landed directly on its head and I think I could hear a small crunch from its skull. That blow managed to inflict a stun and I had two seconds to hit again before it could recover a little. Again I landed the same blow to its head. Their skulls may be hard, but this kind of impacts are nothing to scoff of. At the same time, I looked around trying to find the missing boar. If the boar was the one that fell into a trap I would maybe be afraid of the second wolf coming from my back by some chance. But I was sure that the one in the hole was wolf Rage Beast. So where is the boar then? It couldn''t be lost, right? I looked around and I almost couldn''t believe what I saw. The boar was in the trap! Not exactly in it but almost. It was alive and well, judging by his constant motion. It was trying to exit the trap, but since he was atop the wolf it was hard for the boar. I knew that the wolf was still alive because I could hear it''s moans. Since both of them tried to move, they hindered each other, which made it impossible for one of them to get free. How did the boar also fell in the trap is beyond me? I assume that it was to close to it and as soon as the wolf fell in it, one of its feet probably slipped and the boar fell on the wolf. This is good enough for me since I only have one opponent for now. I could fully concentrate on the fight at hand. Wolf Rage Beast finally recovered from the stun and started with the ferocious attacks. First, he tried to swipe me with its claws and then I could see a wide-open jaw coming at me. Instinct took over and I made a stabbing motion with my staff. I thrust my staff into its mouth, but it wasn''t fast enough. Rage Beast closed it''s jaw and started shaking its head left and right. I hold onto my staff as firmly as I could, trying not to lose it. We wrestled for a while, none of us giving an inch. Because of its wet mouth after some time I finally liberated my staff. When I felt that the staff is fully in my hands I made a wide swing, thanks to the momentum I got from pulling my staff out of its mouth. The blow landed and we continued our struggle. This fight wasn''t easy, I needed to always be on a lookout for a boar in a case it freed itself from the trap. Wolf managed to hit me a few times but all the hits were light and they didn''t make much damage thanks to the armor. Then, things took for the worst. A sudden change sometimes is not a good thing. I heard a notification in my ears that I killed one Rage Beast. I didn''t pay attention to the rest of the details, because I knew that I wasn''t the only one who did the work. My unwilling helper finally exited the trap as soon as the wolf beneath him made its last breath. Another trouble was ahead. The wolf I was currently battling was on the half of its health. Boar didn''t suffer any damage from the trap because the wolf made sure of it. One opponent with full strength and one with half of it left. It won''t be easy for sure. I continued my fight with the wolf and paid extra attention towards the boar. So far I stayed in one place while fighting with the wolf but now I knew that I needed to move around the forest. I battled with the wolf running around trees, watching for the boar. He was closing on me very quickly. I tried to reach the trap and somehow make one of them fall in, but this wouldn''t do. Boar arrived and now it became two on one. Thank Veles for the blessing. Since I knew that I would fight in the woods I prayed to him. That small damage reduction from beasts was very useful here. Using the terrain of the forest and only charging attacks of the boar I concentrated on avoiding the boar and fighting the wolf. I could only imagine how I looked from afar at this moment. Funny I would say. One second of carelessness and almost everything went wrong. When I hit the wolf one time I inflicted a stun. This gave me one more chance to hit the wolf and I used it. But right after the second hit, I felt the impact. I didn''t pay enough attention at the boar and that almost cost me my life. Luckily the force from the impact made me crash into a big brush. That softened my landing and managed to hide me for a moment, just enough for me to calm myself and readjust my position. When I got up I felt pain in my abdomen. That impact may be even stronger than I thought. Ii could feel pressure from the pain, it felt like I cracked a rib or two. I didn''t know that this kind of injuries could also be possible in the game. I remembered the time I broke my leg in fifth grade and calmed a little. At least I can walk now. I tried to run but with the pain from my broken rib, I knew that I would need to finish this fast. I exited the brush and positioned myself in front of I big tree. I could only rely on my reflexes. I decided to use the rest of my stat points so I put 10 in agility and 10 in dexterity. This should make my movement easier and my staff wielding faster. It should also increase critical hit chance. I put my concentration to the max and I only paid attention to the two before me. Boar rushed at me directly while wolf attacked from the sides. I circled the tree and avoided their attacks. When boar rushed at me I moved left or right depending on the wolfs position. Boar hit and shook the tree but tree withstood the impact, and I continued to rely on it. Saying that this big oak wasn''t my savior was an understatement. When wolf finally fell after one critical hit, I heard a notification rang in my ear, but I already had my eyes on the boar. With only one opponent it became a little easier but my rib still hurt. I could only be patient and give my all in fighting with the boar. Boar was an easier target than the wolf and he had a little-accumulated damage from hitting the tree and after half an hour finally fell. I immediately went to get my leather bag with herbs, not thinking about anything else. I knew that I couldn''t fix my rib but easing the pain until I arrive at the village was all I could do. I leaned against the tree I set my things at, crushed the herbs and started spreading them on the place it hurt. I looked at the trap in front of me and thought about the fight. Suddenly a thought came to me and I could only laugh at myself. I had to say it out loud to make sure I remember all this torment from today. , I should have made a bigger hole." 15 Class change? Why I didn''t make a bigger hole? I have no idea. Maybe I thought that this one should be enough or that it would take a lot of time to make a bigger one. Proper answer was that I didn''t think about it. I thought that I could fight two of them at the same time and that is why I made one trap only enough for one of them to fall in. And bigger one would need more time for sure. It turned out differently, boar also fell in for some time. Either way, it was already over. First I should see my level. I gained a lot of EXP today. Let''s see... The wolf that died from the trap was level 7 that means 3000 EXP points. What? 1000 EXP points? How is this possible? I got only a third of the usual EXP gain. Last time I killed level 7 Rage Beast wolf I gained 3000. Could it be? No way, it can''t be. The system might have calculated the damage and the role I played in killing it and found that this is my contribution. That means that the main protagonist was the boar. I can''t believe it. Well, what can I do now? At least I raised the level anyway. The other wolf was also level 7 so that is another 3000 EXP and with the level 6 Boar I got 2000 more EXP and with that, I am level 7 now. For the next level, I will need two or three more of them. This fact makes me dizzy. Now the only thing left was to move them to the village. Seeing that there are three of them I put 10 points from level up in strength. Now it should be easier to pull them back even with my injury. I undid the rope from the trees, packed my things and started thinking how to move the wolf from the trap. There is no way for me to go down and then up with the wolf. I could only try to somehow position the rope, and then pull it out. I slowly entered the trap, not because of the wooden stakes, but because of my injury. I put the rope around the wolf. climbed out the trap and started pulling. It was an excruciating experience. I did manage to pull it out but with every move, my rib hurt like it was on fire. I once more put some herbs on it to cool it down. Now the only thing left to do was to move three bodies in the same place tie them with rope and to go back. It wasn''t that hard tying them together, but the hard part started from there. Thank Perun and Perperuna for nice weather today, otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to come back to the village with my catch today. Seeing me return guards helped me bringing them to the chief. There were a few players also here. They were all in awe seeing me coming back with these beasts. Some of them asked me where I hunted them. I didn''t see anything bad in telling them, so I did. I also told them to be careful, in case they are more of them. Some already run up the mountain while some started making plans for tomorrow. When I made to the chief''s place, after arranging the bodies I asked chief about my injury and if there is someone who can fix it. He told me that he can do it himself and asked me to enter his house. I thanked him and followed him in. When I entered I looked around the house. There were maybe two or three rooms inside. As far as I could see. First room and probably the biggest was a dining room. There weren''t many things inside. Some farming tools, axes. one small one big, in one corner tools for eating, wooden bowls, and cutlery, and metal knives for daily use. In the middle of the room, there was a big house hearthstone. Above it on the roof was an opening for the smoke to exit. By this hearthstone, families got together to eat, make prayers and worship ancestors. In the Slavic culture hearthstones were a center of the house in a material and spiritual sense. I saw a couple of openings in the walls of the house which led to different rooms. We entered one of them and the chief said to me to lie down. This room wasn''t any richer than the main room. In here there was only one straw bed enough for two people to sleep in, and several personal items. I lied down and removed my vest and shirt so that the chief can fix my rib. I told him where it hurts and he put his hand on it. , Ufgh"I made a muffled painful sound. , Its good you came as soon as possible", said chief as he touched the area around my cracked rib, If you waited a little more or made any irregular moves with your body you could have pierced one off your lungs." Wow, I thought to myself, that would be really awful. With all the moving during the fight and going back to the village, I guess I was really lucky. I didn''t bleed and my health didn''t drop but with one pierced lung I don''t think I could have made it to the village, not with my catch at least. While I thought about possibilities, chief started the treatment. The only thing I saw was he moving his hands over my rib putting it in its place, or I felt it, to be precise. I almost fainted when he put it back. Almost is the crucial word. I wanted to get up but he told me to lie down and rest more. He crushed and mixed some herbs and spread the mix over my injured place. I couldn''t help but ask him: , Chief, thank you, do you have a lot of experience putting bones together?" , Haha", laughed chief, You could say that Whenever there is someone hurt they come to me or Donar''s wife. After all, we are the only two herbalists in the village." , Chief, you are a herbalist?" I assumed that Donar''s wife was one because I was gathering the herbs for her, but I didn''t know that the chief is also one. , Yes I am, I learned herbalism from my predecessor. One of the requirements for being the village chief is to be a herbalist. But I usually just fix bones, since Donar''s wife became a herbalist. Village chief doesn''t need to treat people just to know how to do it. After all being a village chief comes with other responsibilities." , Chief what do you need to do to become a herbalist? Can I become one?" I asked hopefully. Becoming a herbalist will help a lot in the future. I don''t know much about herbs, but being a blacksmith or leatherworker isn''t my plan. In games including the combat classes, there are also production classes. I thought that if there are production classes in the Age of Gods I could probably go for being a herbalist. There is an option which many players in previous games knew about, and that this to only raise their production classes. I don''t think that is possible here. Players like that wouldn''t have any strength to protect themselves, at least not in the early stages of the game. Pairing one combat with one production class should be useful in the long run. Players need to find a way to get combat classes before thinking of pairing two together. , Anyone can become a herbalist. If you want I can teach you tomorrow. After all, you did a lot for the village. Rest here for the night and in the morning we will begin" I could only thank the chief before he exited the room. I lied down and slowly fell asleep. I woke up a couple hours later and found out that you can indeed sleep in the game. I logged out the game put the helmet away and continued the sleep on my bed. Since it was Sunday I slept longer than usual. That fight sure tired me out. After breakfast, I checked the forums to see if there is anything new, and then I tried to think what should I reward my students with. At first, I thought that I should raise their grades by one, but I soon removed that idea from my head. Thinking about the game I could only try to give them some advice which could help them. Remembering chiefs words about how all the village chiefs are herbalists, I thought that this could be good advice. If some of them want to be herbalists or to find some clue to other production classes, having a good reputation with the village chief should be one step closer. After lunch, I entered the game anxious to gain my first production class. I woke up in the village chief house. My wound was all healed and I didn''t feel any discomfort. When I walked out of the room I saw chief by the hearthstone, making breakfast. , Come, young man, join me for a meal." he said. , Thank you chief, when will you teach me?" I asked , Patience my young friend, we have time. Fieldwork is done and the villagers are doing their other jobs. I don''t have anything until tomorrow, by the time the merchant comes, so I will teach you all day today about herbalism. Not everything can be taught in a moment." , Okay, chief I will listen to you today." After breakfast chief began his lesson. A lesson may be a big word more like teachings. He was telling me everything about herbs and other materials that could be paired with them, like mushrooms and animal bones or blood. He showed me some of the materials he used in herbal medicine, but because he slowed down making herbs and concentrated on fixing bones he talked about that also. Herbalist doesn''t just make medicine they also need to know about human bodies. After almost three hours I learned one skill. Bone Mending Active Skill Beginner Level 0 0% A skill most of the herbalists know used to mend or fix broken bones Requirement: Needs extensive knowledge about the human body This skill may look naive in a sense but after the fight, it could be very useful if there are some problems with broken bones, not just for me, but for my comrades as well when we fight together. Still, I will need a lot of practice to make this skill applicable in that kind of situations. After that, we went outside the village where the chief showed me all kinds of herbs and grasses and told me about their application. He told me which herb is used for what kind of sickness or wounds and also how to make a different kind of mixtures. Walking around the village and get to know a different kind of herbs earned me another skill. Herb Appraising Active Skill Beginner Level 0 1,5% Most common herbs are easy to spot in the wild It would seem that if I want to spot rarer herbs I will need to raise the level of this skill. Rare herbs or any kind of material are difficult to spot or to actually know where to find them or in what situation to use them. , Now I am going to show you how to make mixtures and medicines out of herbs. We are passing to the practical part of the lesson. Let''s go back to my house." said chief and we returned back to the village. Finally, I thought to myself, I am going to become a herbalist. When we came back chief taught me the most simple medicine for the open wounds and stopping the bleeding. He used herbs already familiar to me, and after showing me once he let me try it. He gave me the tools and the herbs, told me everything I need to do and my only job was to follow his instructions. After I finished I finally heard a notification in my head and chiefs voice beside me. , My young friend now you are a herbalist." , Congratulations, you become the Beginner Herbalist" , Thanks chief, for your teachings." I thanked the chief and finally relaxed. 16 Getting rich Beginner Herbalist Herbalists can make medicines and poisons alike and they have a great understanding of the human body and its functions. Beginner Herbalists can make only easy to make medicines and poisons from the available herbs. There is a slight chance for the medicine made to have a greater effect. There is a slight chance for the poisons to have a greater effect. Becoming a herbalist doesn''t mean I can make anything I want. For now, I can only make beginner concoctions. I will need greater knowledge of the herbs in the future if I want to make more potent medicine and poisons. To be honest I didn''t think that I could also make poisons but there are a lot of poisonous herbs in nature. Until the end of the day, I continued with medicine making. I made the simplest wound dressing medicine. It was like killing two birds with one stone, I could make medicine to have in reserve and also raise my skill in the medicine making. At the end of the day, I made a lot of medicine and raised my skill a lot. I logged out and after a good night sleep went to school. As I promised to the students I gave them a reward. I called all seven of them in the teacher''s lounge and told them a way to become a herbalist. Will they use this advice themselves or will they tell someone else I don''t know. Are any of them actually willing to be a herbalist? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I fulfilled my promise. But as I reminded them about potential earnings from the herbalists class I myself also believed in potential money making. Not that I want to be a full-time herbalist but earning money should be easier this way. Well if they don''t want to be herbalists they can always try for other professions. I am not sure what kind of other professions there could be. But I would say that the safe bet are blacksmiths or miners. There was usually this kind of production and gathering professions in the other games. Maybe even a merchant could be one of them. Speaking of merchants, today should be a day when one of them comes to the village to trade. Furs from my hunt should make me a decent money. Not forgetting to tell Maria and Anna about a potential way to gain a class I went home in a good mood, expecting a decent profit today. As soon as I had lunch with my family I logged into the game. Because I was making the medicine in the chiefs house yesterday, that was the place I logged out and the place I logged into today. After I got up I saw chief, or maybe I should call him teacher or master now, making breakfast. He invited me and we had a meal together. Then we went outside to wait for the merchant to arrive. We were waiting for him at the village''s communal building, where they stored everything valuable to the villagers. After the hunters skinned the animals I brought back this is where the skin was stored. And this was the place where they traded with the merchant according to the chief. We didn''t wait for long. At some time I could see a horse carriage coming towards us being escorted by the village guards. It was a big carriage, pulled by two big brown horses. At the helm of the carriage was a young looking man stirring the horses in our direction. By his side was a middle-aged man. He looked a lot like the young man beside him. Or it should be reversed, the young man looked like him. They were probably father and son. There were also four men riding horses, two at each side of the carriage. Those men were bodyguards, mercenaries hired to protect the merchants and their goods. When they arrived in front of us, four of them got down from their horses and the father and son duo got down from the carriage. The older merchant shook hands with the chief and said hello. I didn''t want to make any problems so I stayed by chiefs side and watched. The trade between the two was very ordinary. Whatever the village needed the merchant could provide. And the village would trade with the products they made. This way both sides profited. After they finished the trade chief called me to join them. I walked to their side and joined the conversation. , Old friend, this is the Wise Raven, young traveler who managed to hunt down several Rage Beasts. he wants to sell the skins and I knew you would want to buy them." said chief. , Impressive " said the merchant, there are not that many young people who can do what you did young man. Let me see them and I will give you a fair price." The chief asked the guards to bring the skins from the storage and to show them to the merchant. Guards entered and not long after came back with the skins on their backs. They lay down the skins on the carriage for the merchant to get the good look at them. There were four wolf skins and one boar skin. The merchant looked them and passed his hands against them. It would seem that he had a great understanding of the animal skin. He should have traded a long time. After he checked them out, he called his son over for him to also take a look at them. I guess this was a way for a merchant to gain experience in trading and knowing the materials. Sometime later older merchant nodded his head to his son and patted his shoulder obviously satisfied with the son''s answers. Both of them came to the chief and I and the older merchant talked to me. , Young man, the quality of this skin is exquisite, too bad that one of them is too ripped" said the merchant with his finger pointing at the skin of the wolf which fell into the trap and got killed by the boar. The wooden stakes and the boar trying to exit the trap made this one skin almost unusable. , So I can offer you only 5 silvers for the boar skin and 7 silvers for each of the three wolf skins. For the fourth one, I can give you 1 silver and 50 copper coins." I didn''t care for that last price because 26 silvers for four skins were good enough number for me. , Deal" I said as fast I could to the merchant fearing that the price could be reduced. The merchant smiled when he saw my reactions and both he and the chief started laughing. He then extended his hand and we shook hands sealing the deal. I am rich, that was my only thought at the moment. Who knows how many players this early in the game had over 30 silver coins. Most of the players didn''t even have 30 coppers not to mention a silver coin. Before my wealth made me lose my reason I heard chief talking to me from behind. , Don''t forget you are a herbalist now. You will need tools befitting one." reminded me chief. , Thank you, teacher, for the reminder." If it weren''t for the chief I would totally forget. I couldn''t use chiefs tools in the future. When I leave the village I will need my own tools to make medicine. , So this young one is your disciple also. Come young one I will give you my best products." said the merchant. , What do you need, friend?" asked me his son, the young merchant, when his father gave him the sign to help me out. , One mortar and a pestle" I said, also something to store the medicine in, would be nice. And a big bag to store things." Mortar and pestle were crucial for a herbalist, and something to store the medicine is also important. As for a bag, having one more wouldn''t hurt. Hearing my request the young merchant looked through the carriage and after some time brought out some items. I could see one mortar and pestle set made from hard black stone. Also, there were some small wooden boxes in round shape for storing the medicine and of course one big leather bag. , This should be around 2 silver and 60 copper coins." said the young merchant, since you gave us nice skin I will make it 2 silvers and 50 coppers. Here are 25 silvers." He handed me one little leather bag from which I could hear the jingling of the coins. I didn''t count them because I didn''t want to offend them. , If you want something else we will be in the village until tomorrow morning" said the older merchant, I have time to reminiscence with the old friend a little." Then two of them and the young man entered the chiefs house. The only thing I could do was to go through my things sort them out and think about what to do until the rest of the day. Now with my own mortar and pestle, I can make herb medicine whenever and wherever I want. I had a lot of herbs in my first leather bag and I could use them to fill small wooden boxes and save them for the future. I walked to the temple and first went in to pray. I prayed to Vesna and Veles, because both of them have influence over the places with a lot of herbs, like forests and fields, and Vesna is the goddess of fertility, which also includes wildlife. I prayed for the abundance of the herbs and their guidance in using them properly. Honestly, I didn''t expect to gain anything from this prayer but I had a hunch that maybe I will gain something useful from it. I wasn''t mistaken, a notification rang in my ears and I heard a voice say to me: , A blessing for a herbalist Veles and Vesna responded to your prayer by giving you a blessing which will help you in using herbs from their domains. When making medicine with the herbs you will have a greater chance to succeed and you can make the medicine faster, with better effects." It worked, just as I hoped so. I had other hopes thinking that maybe I will gain a new title, the title about being a herbalist but it would seem that I am not the first one. Not that it came as a surprise. Two weeks already passed, by now there could be hundreds if not thousand herbalists. But as no one talked about this on forums it would seem that everyone is hiding the way to become one. It won''t take long for the rest of the players around the world to get to know this. I assume that by the end of this week if not earlier everyone will know how to gain a production or a gathering class. I am not sure if the gathering can even be a class by itself. I first learned to gather herbs and then I became a herbalist. I would say that the gathering is only a helping skill for production classes. For example, Donar is a blacksmith and a miner. Will this two be together or apart I don''t know. Maybe if you just do mining and sell the ores you can earn a miner class. The future will show whether my assumptions were right. After I exited the temple I sat in front and started making medicine. The other players could see me this way and maybe this will cause others to learn about production classes earlier but I didn''t care. I wanted to raise my proficiency in the class and by making the medicine in the open can only bring me benefits. If other players see me they will probably ask for medicine. Maybe I can even earn some more coins selling the medicine? My wealth can increase with every medicine made. 17 Doctor Wise Raven Of course that my fortune didn''t go any higher. Players don''t have a lot of money still if any at all. So, I had to be satisfied with the skill proficiency raising instead. That was a good thing actually. I just had to sit in front of the temple and the herbs and patients came to me. Yes, you heard me right, patients. I became a village doctor. How did that happen? Word by mouth, of course. As I planed, I started making medicine in front of the temple. I put my mortar and pestle on the ground, pulled the herbs I had left out of the bag and started making the medicine. If you don''t know how to make the medicine let me tell you. First, you put the herbs in the mortar and then you grind them slowly with the pestle. When you grind them and mix them together the herbs become a paste which you can put on the wound. This type of paste is the easiest one to make and the one with the simplest use. You can put it on the bleeding wound after you clean it to stop the bleeding or you can store it like I am doing now for the later use. After I filled two small wooden boxes, other players started noticing me. At first, they were just watching me and talking about what I am doing and then one of them walked towards me. I pulled my head up and said: , Can I do something for you, friend?" , We were wondering at first if you were an NPC, but then one of us finally managed to use Appraisal skill on you and we found out you are a player like us. Can I ask you what are you doing?" , I am making medicine for bleeding wounds." , Really? How do you know to make them?" , I became a herbalist so now I can make them." , Are they for sale?" , Yes they are, how much do you want?" , Wait, let me call my friends." Then he waved his hand for the rest of them to come over. When all of them came we continued the conversation. There were three guys and two girls. They looked like college students. One of the girls had a bow and a quiver of arrows the other had a short dagger and the other guys had swords and one of them short round wooden shield. Where the rest of the players got their weapons I have no idea. I didn''t have a lot of encounters with other players so I don''t know where did they get them. The logical solution is Donar''s shop. Well, this shouldn''t be a surprise, a lot of time passed since the launch of the game. Players should all have weapons by now. I suppose that the guy who came to me was a leader of the group, so he continued talking with me. , Friend how much for the medicine, we are willing to buy as much as we can?" This is where he stumped me. I have no idea what is price supposed to be. I have a lot of money and the herbs were gathered by myself. I didn''t buy them so the only thing I can think to include in the price is labor cost. And since I am both the boss and the worker all the earnings goes to me. So what is the price and how do I determine the cost. One wooden box could be used a dozen times, if not more. I have maybe enough herbs to fill two more boxes. When you grind the herbs the volume only decreases, and more herbs are needed to make the medicine more effective. One batch of herbs should be enough for one box, but boxes were not eternal. I have only several of them and I bought them for my own use. , How much are you willing to buy one box for?" Five of them looked at each other and the leader turned and said: , We managed to gather 2 silvers, is that enough?" 2 silvers were more than enough, I didn''t want to rob them so I decided to set the price at the 50 coppers without the box and 80 coppers with one. , You know what, if you want it I will make it 50 coppers if you bring me a container to put it in. Otherwise, it is 80 coppers. Note that I don''t have the endless supply of herbs with me, at the moment I can only fill two more containers. If you can bring me the herbs I will lower the price by 10 coppers." Five of them agreed quickly. One of them went to buy the small boxes and the rest of them went to collect herbs. When they came back I filled them three boxes and earned 1 silver and 20 copper coins. Soon the word spread out that I am making wound medicine. By the lunchtime, I earned almost 15 silvers. I had lunch with Donar, chief, and the merchants. Donar called me when he went towards the chief house. There the older merchant thanked me for giving him more profits from the village because the players bought small containers from him. The only bad thing was that he sold all of them. Even I wanted to buy a few more. Instead, I bought the leather sheath for my staff. Now I carried it on my back, I didn''t want to have it in my hand all the time when I walk around. I also remembered to buy a lot of cloth bandages, enough for one full leather bag. I couldn''t put the leaves all the time on the wounds, they can''t stick well enough anyway. After lunch, I went by myself outside the village to gather more herbs. There were not many since rest of the players from the village collected them earlier. I went back to the village and continued to make the medicine with the rest of the herbs I had. When I filled all the boxes I didn''t know what to do. There were no more players coming, one reason was that the herbs around the village were dwindling and the other was, the players who had money already bought enough for them. Players who didn''t have enough money couldn''t buy it. A little bit after I came back into the village two players came in. I could see that one was leaning on another, obviously wounded. They came to me and then the player which helped his friend asked me. , Brother Wise Raven I heard that you make medicines, my friend is wounded but we don''t have any money. I have herbs with me, we can pay you later." , No need brother, give me the herbs and let him lay down first." , Thank you, brother Wise Raven." Smiled the guy and lied down his friend in front of me. I took out my mortar and pestle took the herbs and got to work. I mixed the herbs and put it on the wounded guy. His wound was on his back, it would seem that something caught him unprepared from behind. I spread the medicine on his wound and put on the bandage to hold it in place. I talked a little with the one who brought his friend back. I would seem that a lot of players went into the forest and up the mountain after I brought the wolfs from my hunt. They started to hunt there and the number of the Rage Beasts didn''t get lower. These two players managed to hunt one but since the other guy got wounded they had to come back. They had to leave the Rage Beast up in the mountains. It would seem these two are good friends, someone would leave the other players for the monsters killed, but these guys didn''t. I had a good impression of this guy. Some people would leave their comrades to die and go for the loot and treasure, but this guy valued friendship more. After I added him as a friend he left his friend to me to watch over and he went to the place they hunted the Rage Beast to try to find it''s body. By the time he returned, successfully I must add, I had my first real patients. There were two of them, one girl and one middle-aged man. They both had broken bones. By fixing their bones I managed to raise my Bone Mending skill. This was a lot harder than Wound Dressing, but proficiency raised also quickly. It doesn''t happen often that someone has broken bones, so scarcity and difficulty of this skill make it extremely difficult. On top of all my inexperience in this field makes it all the harder. Good thing that only broken bones were arm and leg. The girl came with her friend who helped her back to the village. Two of them fought a boar and one of them got hit which broke her arm. Being near a girl was very weird. Especially touching one. I thought that I would show some signs of anxiety and nervousness, the girl was pretty after all. Because I didn''t have much contact with girls before I thought that I would make some mistake but since only her arm was broken I didn''t need to touch her anywhere else. Also, Maria was far prettier than her, and thinking about her made me more relaxed. If I don''t ask out Maria on a date soon I would probably regret it. Not because there could be other guys interested in her, but because she could maybe lose interest in me. According to my little sister she also liked me. That is a good thing for me. The uncle with the broken leg had it rougher. He ran from two Rage Beasts and fell down the mountain. As he rolled down he broke the left leg. He was lucky though. A team of players was passing by the area he landed and they brought him back to the village. If some players had ulterior motives they could even kill him and rob him of his possessions. Fortunately, the people who found him didn''t have bad intentions. After I showed that I can also fix the broken bones, some players from the village started calling me Doctor Wise Raven, and soon after, the whole village called me by that name. By the way, I didn''t hear anything so far about player killers in our village so far. Our village seemed full of good people and was peaceful. The only noisy parts of this area were monster habitats. Since I didn''t have anything else to do I made an announcement that I will only make medicine by the end of the day in the future and that I will help with mending bones if players can find me or wait for me to return to the village. Even though I had great benefits by staying in the village and helping other players, I couldn''t just stop my leveling progress. Before I logged out I chatted a little with Wolf and Marco about me becoming a herbalist. This was a good thing for our little team because I could heal the wounds and bones if someone got injured. I also urged them to find and try to find a production class of their own, preferably blacksmithing and leatherworking. Wolf would be a good blacksmith, he has a build for one and his striking power is also formidable. On the other hand, if Marco became a hunter, with hunters having skinning and butchering skills, leatherworking would be a good choice. But I didn''t want to make them choose something they didn''t want so I just said that they should find something they think should be suited for them. During the breakfast and ride to school, I was thinking about the best way to ask Maria out on a date. I was so preoccupied with my thought that I missed my exit spot, not one, but two stations away from school. 18 About classes Even though I went two stations away, I came just on time. The speed of the metro trains is fast enough to not make me late for work. But two or three more stations I would be late for sure. Those students I gave the advice came to me one by one over the day and thanked me for the reward. I was glad I could help them a little. Age of Gods is, as first claimed by developers, truly hard game to go around. Combat classes were nowhere in sight, so the production classes were, for now, the only source of income and any semblance of adventure, not counting hunting and leveling outside the villages. Hunting and leveling were extremely hard for ordinary players. I think that luck also played a crucial role in my beginning in the game. Or my extensive knowledge of mythology. I would go for that actually. The whole day I tried to talk to Maria but to no avail. There was just no chance for me to talk to her. Either I couldn''t see her during the breaks between classes or she was with Anna all the time. I could maybe ask her with Anna there but I wanted to be alone with her. Nick also didn''t help in this case. He was always trying to talk with Anna so that was also a reason why I didn''t try to talk to her. I could only try to find a good way to ask her out in my head today. Maybe some exercise in my head should help me tomorrow or a day after. So I could only go back home with imagining what should I say to her. After lunch I went to Marco''s house. Finally, we could get together and talk face to face. Wolf managed to find some time so The Nerdy Trio got together after some time. Before we could even start talking about the game Wolf brought a different conversation. , Champion how is the love life?" I couldn''t believe he had any idea about my love life. Does he know something? But how? I didn''t tell him anything about Maria or my intentions to ask her out. I looked at Marco who just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Wolf who now had a sad and hurt expression on his face. Before I could ask him what is the problem he spoked begrudgingly. , Your mother talked with our mothers and said that you found a girlfriend. Now my mother finds every moment to ask me the same thing. You put me in a great predicament brother. Now my mom just wants to see more grandchildren. It seems that all those nephews and nieces of mine are not enough anymore." He finished his explanation and could only sign. I maybe, already mentioned that Wolf has three older brothers and all three of them are married and have kids. I think that two of them have three and the third brother has two children. Who knows if there are more on the way. Every weekend there are kids all around in Wolf''s parent''s house. How can they manage them all it''s beyond me. And Wolf''s mom still wants more grandchildren. I could only blame my mom for Wolf''s misfortune. I haven''t even asked Maria out on a date and mom already told the entire neighborhood about me having a girlfriend. I could only explain to Wolf about the situation but to him, it was already too late. Marco was trying to hold his laughter but he couldn''t. Two of us only looked at him and thought, good for you brother. We weren''t angry at him. He already has a girlfriend so he can laugh all he wants. , By the way, Marco how did you ask your girlfriend on a date?" , I just asked her would she like to paint together with me." said Marco like it was perfectly natural to ask someone on a first date to paint together. What an art freak. What should I do? Ask her to teach a class together? Seeing that I wouldn''t get a good advice for dating I could only comfort the Wolf a little and change the flow of the conversation in the right track. , Anyway what are you guys up to in the game?" , Since you told us about the production classes I was trying to find one." said Wolf, there were not that many in the beginner village according to hunters I go with to hunt wild beasts in the forest. There are blacksmith, herbalist, leatherworker or tailor if we are more precise and maybe a couple more. I chose blacksmith, of course, ate the moment I am trying to get the know my village blacksmith and learn from him. It won''t take long." , Since you became a herbalist i knew that Wolf will be a blacksmith, so I decided to be a tailor." added Marco, hunters have a skinning skill so this is a logical choice." , It is indeed" is said, but what are those couple more classes which you mentioned and have you find out something about combat classes?" , Well in a case of my village there is an NPC who is a cook so there is that, I also heard from the blacksmith that in some villages there are miners so you can get a miner subclass. About combat classes I don''t know anything." , So there are cooks and miners also, interesting. What about you Marco did you find something?" , I actually did have a better luck than you guys." said Marco and than continued, I asked one of the hunters from my village and he said that only in the bigger towns there are instructors from which we can learn skills and get a combat-related job." , Wow." I said, and both Wolf and I looked at Marco with grateful eyes. He really delivered this time. I had my suspicions about a way to get a combat class but I wasn''t sure. Now we know. , That is a great news" I said since we know where to find the instructors it will be a lot easier. , By the way, you never told us which class are you going to choose." said Marco. , Yeah, what''s up with that? We already know that I am going to be a warrior and Marco is going to be a hunter. What are you choosing?" followed Wolf. , I have a class in mind but I am not sure if there is that class here at all. And if does exist I am not sure I can find an instructor." , Bah, all the secrecy" Wolf made an unsatisfied expression, if there is any justice for this you will need to look for your instructor deep in the forests, high in the mountains or deep in the sea." I looked at the Wolf thinking that he found out something, but then I saw that he just said that to be a little mean. I hope that this statement won''t come true. We talked a little bit more about the game and our love lives and than went homes to continue with the game. First thing I did was to go to the merchant and see if I need anything else. They should leave the village soon and I didn''t want to miss them. As I was nearing chiefs house I saw that they were ready for the trip to the next village. I said hello when I arrived and with the chief escorted them to the village gates. Along the way, I bought as many bandages as I could to fill one bag, one small knife for herbs and one pair of leather shoes. I almost forgot about that. Since I had vest pants and a weapon the fourth most important piece of equipment is shoes. To move easier and quicker shoes are an essential part of equipment for an adventurer. Before they left the village I asked chief and the merchant where is the closest town. Since I haven''t seen any teleport formation, which is the usual way of transport between beginner villages and bigger towns, in other games at least I presumed that the only way was by foot. , Ten days on foot and four by carriage, in the southeast direction." said merchant, and chief nodded his head a little in a sign of approval. , Ten days? That is too much. can I go with you the next time you came back?" , That won''t be possible. We are only carrying goods not people. There will be carriages coming just for travelers sometime soon." Then the merchant and his son said goodbye to the chief and the rest of us and went their way. Chief also went home and I was left there standing thinking about what to do. Who knows when will the carriages come going. Maybe when players reach level 10. Usually, that is the way in other games. When players reach level 10 he can then go to the nearest town via teleport formation. I wasn''t sure when will players reach level ten but I assume that it shouldn''t be soon. I should be level 8 soon but other players are slower than me. If I wait much longer don''t know what to do in the village anymore. With this knowledge, I called Marco and Wolf over the friend chat option. I shared with them my findings and they went to their village chief to ask about the nearest town. Wolf had to go West and Marco North and the distance was also 10 days. It could be that we could finally play together. After some calculations, we agreed that we should try and go by foot to the town, even if we didn''t manage to reach level 10 yet. We also agreed that we go in two days time. After we finished I went back to the temple to see if there are any customers today. When I announced that I will leave the village day after tomorrow more and more players started coming. I also said that I will make wound ointments only today and not tomorrow. I wanted to try and hunt something tomorrow so that I can raise my level a little more before I start my journey to the town. I made a lot of ointments today and even dressed some wounds of other players who came back after hunting and then went to the chief to say to him about my decision about leaving the village. Chief was a little sad but he understood my decision. He also warned me about dangers on the road and advised me not to travel during the night. When I remeberd that there is also a night in this world I thought about logging off problem. During the night I couldn''t log off wherever i like. I need to find a safe place first before doing so. Chief offered me to sleep at his house this two days before I came so after i lied down I logged off and went to sleep for real. After breakfast, I went to school and this time and didn''t miss my station. This time I didn''t think about Maria but of Hope. I said that I would help her in the game but now I didn''t know how. Well, there are small chances anyway that she will show up in my village. I will think of something in the next few days. As I was thinking about Hope and the game I arrived at the school gates. Since teachers need to arrive earlier there were no students this early in the morning. Just as I wanted to enter through the gates a figure walked into my eyes. It was Maria. And she was alone. I looked around me and saw that there were only two of us. This is my chance. 19 First date I waited for her at the entrance and then we entered together. , Maria"I said, how are you this morning?" , Very well, Novak, thanks for asking" she smiled as she answered me back, how are you?" , Excellent, now." I said and smiled back, How is the game going?" , Not bad" she said after you told us about the production classes me and Anna found one instructor and I got a cooking class. Now I can make food for the two of us. Anna is still looking for a decent production class for herself." , So you took the cooking class. Does that mean that you know how to cook in real life too?" , Yes my mother taught me." , I would like to try your cooking one day." I said that in the heat of the moment and couldn''t believe it myself. Such courage, what happened to me today? Maria looked at me and just said: , I look forward to it I hope you like it." Now, I said to myself. Now or never. I mustn''t miss this chance. , Maria, would you like to go out with me for a drink or dinner?" Seeing that she was quiet I panicked and then added: , We can talk about the game I have new useful information about combat classes and leaving the village." Thinking that she maybe doesn''t want to go out I started to talk about the game. Age of Gods is a worldwide conversational theme for everyone after all. , We don''t need to talk just about the game. I would like to go out with you. I was just surprised you asked me so sudden after all this time." she laughed and I could see all her beauty with just this one laugh. I scratched my head awkwardly. I didn''t know how to respond to that. Seeing that I was quiet she smiled at me again and asked: , So where are we going and when?" , Are you free tonight?" I asked. , Tonight? What''s the hurry?" , Tomorrow I am leaving the village so I am not sure what am I going to meet on my first day of the journey." , You are leaving the village. How? And why now?" , Well, why don''t I tell you that over dinner tonight?" , Haha, you win. Tonight it is." she smiled again at me and I almost melted. We were already in front of the school entrance so we made an arrangement where and when to meet. As soon as we entered teachers lounge Maria went to Anna and started talking to her. Anna quickly looked in my direction with blushing face and after I smiled and nodded my head to her she nodded back and returned to her conversation with Maria. It would seem that she was shy even when it was other peoples in question. Maybe I should introduce her to Wolf. I don''t know if they could have anything in common but at least Wolf can make Nick back away from Anna for a while. I went to teachers bathroom to wash my face with cold water to make sure if this wasn''t a dream. When I exited and saw Maria smile at me I knew that it wasn''t. What will my family say when I tell them that I have a date tonight. One step at a time Novak old buddy one step at a time. When I returned home I first entered the game. Even though it is still dark a little I went over the fields into the forest which was going in the west direction for some herbs. I wasn''t there so I assumed that there should be a lot of herbs still left. Since I had Herb Appraising skill I could easily spot herbs I already knew so even in the dark I could fill my one leather bag full of herbs. I filled the boxes with medicine, checked all my things and decided that all herb related things are ready for tomorrows trip. Hunting will wait after lunch and final preparation will be tomorrow before I leave the village. During lunch, the main thing was my date tonight with Maria. My dad just said well done and nodded his head to everything mom gave me a lecture about. She told me how to dress how to talk, what food to order... I could see that she was more anxious than me about my date. I guess when your child is like me every parent, mother especially, worries about their love life. Nerds don''t have many girlfriends in the first place. Hope just said that I was rather quick about asking her out and then called Mia, to see what did Maria told her. I didn''t want to wait anymore so I went to my room and entered the game again. Since we agreed to meet at 20h I had maybe two hours left before I need to get ready for my first date. I first checked my shoes when I entered the game. I didn''t pay them any attention because I knew that old merchant wouldn''t trick me. For 3 silvers I got a decent pair of shoes. Deer leather shoes Common Leather armor Agility + 5 Movement speed + 2% Even though the numbers seemed small +5 to agility and +2% to movement speed were precious options. I wanted to try them out so after I went to the temple I ran to the forest. I could see a difference in my speed. It was small but it was still there. I went into the forest and I could see players all around me, fighting Rage Beasts. At first, a was surprised how come there were so many of them. Seeing that some of the players were injured I went and helped them dress their wounds. As soon as they spotted me they called me out. , Doctor, Doctor you are here, excellent. Now we don''t need to look for you." I recognized that player, he was my first customer. I went to him and asked what is going on. In short, a couple of days ago when players learned about Rage Beasts they went in their habitat and then started hunting them. They caught all of them, bet next day more of them showed up. At first, they were joius but today it was almost like a stampede going down the mountain. I didn''t go up the mountain in a long time so I had no idea this happened. What could be the cause? A small worm of suspicion crept in my mind but I didn''t share it with other players. I decided to help them here and then after a date with Maria, climb the mountain to the cave they come out and make sure that my suspicion is correct. I spent my two hours going where I was needed curing the wounded and fighting Rage Beasts. I raised my skills a little, like Appraisal, Wound Dressing and Staff Mastery, but since there were a lot of players sharing the experience I couldn''t raise my level to 8. I only got 400 EXP for two hours. I helped when there was a player in trouble who got himself of balance, but since there were almost three players per monster I didn''t have much to do. I still needed to kill two of them alone to raise my level. When all the Rage Beasts were killed i helped some of the wounded players and said that I will go later to see what happened in the mountain. Everyone thanked me and most unexpectedly i gained a tittle. Little Rock village''s Doctor Intelligence + 10 Fame +50 A tittle gained by helping other adventurers. Other adventurers named you Doctor because you helped them selflessly and showed courage and compassion. Whit all the "Doctor, doctor" going around I am not surprised about this title. But +10 intelligence and +50 fame this is a great reward for everything i did. When I logged out of the game I got into a shower, washed my teeth and shaved. I wanted to look nice for Maria. Or in my mother''s words, you need to look presentable, whatever that means. I said bye to my parents and Hope who wished me luck and exited the house. I even heard a splash behind me. Water met the pavement and door of the house closed. That was my mom. She didn''t throw water after me even when I was going to college examination or my first day of work. But she did it now. There is a custom here on Balkans that whenever someone goes to do something important, the first day of school or work, then mothers or grandmothers throw the water after them. It symbolizes that everything should flow like water. I couldn''t believe it that mom remembers that. Last time I heard the water splash behind me was my first day in junior school when my late grandma did it. Either way, I never heard that someone throws water when their child goes on a date. Well if I am that child I can understand mom''s concern. This actually made me relax a little, only until I saw Maria. Then I became more nervous that when I asked her out. She was standing at the place we arranged to meet. This place was a city square, it had a statue, and it was in a center of the city. Most of the couples meet here for their dates. Everybody was looking at her she was the only girl in the world. I could sense jealous looks from men around us when I came to her. I quickly offered her my arm and she put her arm under mine and we went to the restaurant. I honestly didn''t know how to talk to her right now. Thankfully she spoke first. , What''s wrong you hadn''t said a word, did cat eat your tongue?" Seeing her sweet smile, I smiled back I tried to say something. , Not the cat but your beauty did. How come you are more beautiful every time I see you?" Probably not expecting compliment this soon, Maria just lowered her head a little, but I could see a small smile and her blushing cheeks. After she recovered she said: , Aren''t you a real Don Juan. I bet that you say this to every girl?" , Only one." I said and looked straight in her eyes. She only smiled again and we continued on our way. It wasn''t a long walk to the restaurant. We entered sat at our reserved table and ordered food and vine. The only thing my father said to me during lunch was, Son when you are on a dinner date with a girl you must order nice vine." Since I am the dutiful son I listened to him. I thought that we couldn''t start a conversation right away but, we quickly found a similar language and the flow of the conversation went naturally. We talked about our families, our experience at work so far, what are we expecting in the future. We also talked about the game. I mainly talked and she listened and asked me about some things. I told her about combat classes and how to arrive at the towns. We laughed and talked a lot, it was one rather enjoyable evening. Almost two hours passed and we didn''t notice. I guess that shows that we both enjoyed the company of each other. After dessert, I paid the bill and we went for a little walk. We walked around the city center and talked a little bit more. As we were walking we were getting closer to her home. She lives with her parents in the center of the city, and they are one of those families who are rich enough to live here or have a house inherited from their ancestors. This is the case with her family. They own a 100-year-old business and that is a reason they have a house in the center of the city. When I escorted her home we stopped at the door to say goodbye for tonight. I had no idea what to do. Should I kiss her? As we were standing there we noticed a man''s figure watching from the window above us. Seeing that her father was watching I could see that he was very strict. I didn''t dare to kiss her on her lips so I kissed her hand like the knights of old. She also saw that her father was watching so, but just before I started to turn around she kissed me on the cheek and entered her house. 20 From heaven to hell I was staying there stunned for almost a minute. When I noticed that Maria''s father is still looking at me from the window I just bowed my head slightly, turned around and went straight home. During the metro ride, I was remembering that kiss over and over again. It may be just one kiss on the cheek but I felt like I was in heaven. I saw other people riding the metro looking at me like I was some fool. I bet I looked like that with the smile I had on my face. When I saw my reflection in the window, I also thought why is this fool so happy? Then I realized that this fool is really me. I quickly calmed down and made a smile disappear from my face. But within me, I was still smiling like the biggest fool in the world. Not a bad feeling I would say. When I came back home my parents and Hope were waiting for me in the living room. Hope would usually already be in bed since she follows a strict regiment regarding her training. But tonight she also waited with my parents. Of course, I knew why they waited. They wanted to know how my date went. Since I couldn''t hide my smile anymore, everything became clear to them as soon as they saw me entering the living room. I could see my father nodding his head in approval, Hope laughing like she already knew how it went and I could even see mother shed one tear of happiness with her bright smile. They soon surrounded me and demanded me to tell them about everything that happened tonight. When I was almost done and arrived at the kiss scene, Hope couldn''t manage herself anymore and she shouted. , And then she kissed him on the cheek!" she said with a big shout. Good thing that our house has good isolation layer, otherwise all the neighbors would hear her. But who knows maybe they will hear tomorrow when my mother starts talking with other ladies from our neighborhood. , You already talked with Mia, didn''t you?" I asked Hope, Why didn''t you then already tell mom and dad what happened?" , Haha, I wanted to wait for you but I couldn''t manage it anymore." , Well done son, very nice." my parents said. I could just smile and remember that kiss once more. After some more small talk, all of us went to sleep. I, of course, didn''t go to sleep but straight into the game. Even if I wanted to sleep now I couldn''t from all the excitement. When I logged into the game I found myself in front of the temple. Since I didn''t enter the temple earlier today I first went in for a prayer, went for a meal so that I don''t have to worry about my hunger and then started going into the mountain. Since my destination was that hole in the mountain where Rage Beasts were from and the battle will be certain, I prayed to Yarilo this time. I thought that strength and agility should be useful in this fights. During my walk towards the mountain, I could see other players here and there battling some Rage Beasts. There were not as many as they were earlier today, so other players had an easier time. When they saw me going up the mountain they wished me luck and continued the fights they were currently in. Not long after I arrived at the end of the forest and the clearing which leads to the monster hole. The clearing was empty so I started moving forward. Even though there was no monster in sight at the moment I was still cautious. Who knows if some Rage Beast will jump out of nowhere. While I was walking towards the hole I tried to hear some sounds which could help me anticipate what was to come but I couldn''t hear anything. The silence was deafening. It was very disturbing. If I didn''t hear the wind brush by me, I would assume that I am really deaf. I arrived at the hole soon after. I assumed at first that it is some regular hole, but seeing nothing from the entrance I changed my opinion. This could be anything from the monster den or a lair to a monster pit or a cave. The dungeon was the first thing that came to mind but since I didn''t get any notification when I made a couple of steps in I judged that it must be something I mentioned before. Well even if it was a lair, den, pit or a cave it wasn''t anything good either way. In Slavic mythology, everyone of this places is connected to the Underworld. And I certainly wouldn''t like to go into the Underworld this soon. Knowing that I had to go in there, chilled the blood in my body. But I couldn''t enter just like that. In this darkness, I couldn''t see my own hand in front of me. I quickly returned to the forest. I hanged my big bags on one three and put away any unnecessary tools. Since one of them was almost full with bandages I took the other to bring with me. In there I put one wooden box filled with medicine, half a dozen big tree branches and enough bandages to wrap them around branches and in a case I need them myself for wounds. I also took my rope, little knife and some stones from the clearing in front of the pit to help me start a fire. It took a while to start a fire and make a torch. Putting bandages around the branch was an easy part but setting it on fire was a harder task. After several tries, I somehow managed to get myself a torch and afraid that I will chicken out from the pit if I stared much into it I rushed in with torch in one hand and my staff in the other hand. At first, I was going down, then up, then straight, after a couple of minutes I lost my sense of space and I couldn''t tell if I was above or below the entrance. Thankfully my torch was made well and its flame made me warm and safe. Until the Rage Beasts showed up. The first two I encountered were level 8 and the one after was level nine. I first had to somehow place the torch in the cracks of the pit so that I can use both of my hands to fight. I am not skilled yet to wield the staff with one hand. Since the space for walking was narrow I could only fight them one at a time. This was a good thing for me since I knew that the enemies were only in front and not behind me. Killing this three Rage Beasts made me level 8, just a little bit to level 9. Ten stat points I put into agility stat since every opponent here should be quick on its feet. I didn''t want to fall behind in speed. After them nothing. Next fifteen minutes were the most nerve-wracking I experienced so far in the game. I used two torches so far and the third one was slowly dying out. But just as I thought that I had to make a forth, I could see a small light in front of me. As I was going further and further in the light was getting bigger and brighter. At first, I couldn''t see from the light but quickly my eyes got used to the light and I could see in front of me. There was a little lake in front with very clear water, which was almost shining. With a better look, I noticed that it was actually the ceiling which was shining. The ceiling was covered with a lot of shining rocks. What rocks were they I had no idea? Even if they were precious stones there was no way for me to get them down from the ceiling. Then I took a better look around. I almost screamed. At both sides of the little lake lied two wolf Rage Beasts, one on each side. Since they didn''t see me yet I used Appraisal on them. Both of them were level 9. Not good at all. Thankfully I was still at the entrance, and here only one of them could still attack me. Before I had I chance to totally relax I heard a small grunt. Following that sound, my eyes reached the other side of the lake. There, a being lied on one protruding rock which looked upon the whole room. This underground room wasn''t big or small, just enough for that being to see everything in it. Fear, that was the only thing I could feel after my eyes lied up on it. And then I knew that my suspicions from before were true. Rage Nightmare. When I saw it, I didn''t need to use Appraisal to know its name. I remember when my grandpa talked about evil mythological beings from Slavic mythology. When he talked about Rage Beasts he mentioned one more evil being. In some beliefs, there is a being who leads the Rage Beasts and controls them. That was Rage Nightmare. Its appearance was somewhere between a vampire and a werewolf, sometimes even similar to them, which made people believe that they are one and the same being. It could go on both four or two limbs, its claws were as sharp as the sharpest blade, and its eyes could instill fear in whomever it looked into. One more grunt and two Rage Beasts woke up and rushed at me at once. Before they arrived I used that opportunity to appraise the Rage Nightmare. And results: Rage Nightmare Level 10 Boss Health ??? My level was insufficient to see it''s health, but I would say that it''s health should be three times that of the level 9 Rage Beast if not more. I moved back a little into the dark passage so that I can fight one on one. Both of the Rage Beasts entered the passage but only one of them could fight efficiently. But since they were ordered to kill me they hindered one another, which helped me a lot. Still, it took me almost half an hour to kill both of them. I just couldn''t allow myself to make one mistake. I didn''t even notice the level up notification and just put five points into strength and five into agility, and waited for Rage Nightmare to attack me. But nothing happened. I slowly moved towards the entrance of the cave room and looked into it. Rage Nightmare was still lying down on the rock but as soon as I showed myself it looked at me straight into my eyes. That fear possessed me once again and I quickly moved my glance away. There was no way that the Rage Nightmare will come at me. It was to smart for that. It knew that I had to kill it to stop Rage Beasts appearing, at least in bigger numbers, and for that, I had to enter inside. And inside was its territory. I looked around the cave trying to find someplace which I could use strategically but to no success. Walls were smooth and the only exception in the terrain of the cave was that rock on which the Rage Nightmare was on. Looking into the lake I made an even sadder expression. If I somehow fell into it I would be dead for sure. Not because I was a bad swimmer but because I was sure that my strength couldn''t match the strength of the Rage Nightmare in the water. Those facts and the fact that whenever I look into its eyes I would lose courage made me extremely fearful for my chances of victory this time. I could only step out of the dark into the light and try my best. If this already wasn''t hell then being killed would certainly bring me there. And just a few hours earlier i was in heaven. What irony. 21 First real boss figh I am dead. Well, not yet but soon I will be. What happened you asked? I fell into the lake. How? After all that talking about how dangerous will be if the fight happened in the water, how come I was so careless. Let''s recap for now. After I entered the cave I walked alongside the lake at first. I tried to lure the Rage Nightmare to attack me quickly and then try to move the fight to the cave walls. At first, I thought that I succeeded. The monster stood up, first on all fours and then on the two back limbs. It was almost three meters high when it stood up. While it was lying down on the small rock it didn''t look as big. Once more I got frightened. My opponents so far were only Rage Beasts. Even though they were strong they were also simple-minded. They just rushed at you not caring about anything else. Rage Nightmare was not like that this opponent was far too cunning for my taste. My predicament proved me right. I looked at the Rage Nightmare when it started moving around the lake as well, waiting for my chance to move to the walls. I didn''t want to move to soon so I looked at its movements and made a judgment when should I move. When I made my first step towards the wall that is when everything went sideways. I didn''t even know how it happened but I was already in the lake. I felt the impact from my right side and then splash. I was in the water trying to figure out what happened. But before I knew what to do I heard another splash. I looked towards the sound I saw open jaw coming at me. And then my death premonition came. I truly thought that I would die now. Somehow I managed to lift my staff and plant it in front of the jaw. I managed to stop the jaw coming for my throat, but now I could see his claw coming for another swipe. This time it came from my left side and I knew that my chance came. I didn''t give any resistance and let the impact force me out the water. Since I was close to the bank of the lake I managed to crawl out of the lake. But Rage Nightmare wanted to pull me back in. I avoided its claw that went for my legs and without turning around started moving towards the walls. I don''t know how I arrived at the wall of the cave. Rage NIghtmare didn''t give me any chance to think about my next move. Its attacks were relentless from the moment I fell into the lake. My only thought was to escape. There is no way for me to kill this thing by myself. I should try to escape and bring other players with me here to kill the Rage Nightmare together. But its easier said than done. Attack after attack came at me, not giving me any chance for pause and rest. My full concentration was on its attacks and the exit. With every attack of his came my evasion and block with the staff, and my legs were moving towards the exit. One chance came all of the sudden when he swiped at me and I lunged under his arms straight into the tunnel. I didn''t even look back to see if the Rage Nightmare was chasing me. I ran as fast as I could. I could still feel his stare on my back. A minute later I finally mustered enough courage to look back. There was no one behind me. That made me feel relief. It would seem I was correct in my assumption about Rage Nightmare not exiting the cave. I am not certain if more players would actually be enough to kill this monster but we could try if anything else. While I was walking through the tunnel I called Borko, the only guy I had in my friend list not counting Wolf and Marco. Borko was the guy who helped his wounded friend come back to the village for me to treat him and left their killed Rage Beast in the woods. I could see he was a good guy so I accepted his friend request. , Doctor what do you need?" asked Borko with great enthusiasm. Since I didn''t call him so far he was eager to help. , Borko I need you to gather players. One''s with shields at least 4 of them and as many with bows and arrows as you can find. We need to kill a strong Boss. Others players can also join but they should have good agility otherwise they will be first to go back to the temple." When players die they teleport inside the temple. , That must be one strong Boss when even you can''t defeat him alone. Don''t worry I will find them. Where should we go?" , Go to that cave up on the mountain. That is the place all Rage Beasts come from. I will wait for you guys at the entrance. And yes, I almost forgot. Guys with the shields need to have more than half of their stat points put into endurance if not all of them. You know what, try to find even more than four players with shields, this will be a tough and long fight." , Don''t worry brother Raven I will do as you say." said Borko and went to search for other players. By the time we finished talking, I exited the tunnel and arrived outside. I sat down to rest and check on my body to see if I missed some injury. the only thing sore were my ribs and back from the first impact. I applied a little of the medicine just to be sure. I was thinking about the fight right now and how should we fight as a group to kill the Rage Nightmare. The reason I told Borko to find as many players with shields and bows is so that we can endure the attacks while we attack from the distance. I was the highest leveled player in the village so maybe I could kill it with similarly leveled players like Wolf or Marco. But two of them aren''t here so the only thing I could do was to find as many lower leveled players as possible. I was level 9, and as far as I know, there is not even one level 8 player I thought that with killing Rage Nightmare I could finally reach level 10, but it would seem that no matter how strong level 9 player is, killing Level 10 Boss is not possible. I skimmed through my stat page, to see my progress so far and to see my skills. I went from top to bottom and then to top again since something bugged me. Level 9, there is no mistake, but when I saw how much experience I would need to level 10 I almost fainted. To reach level 10 I need to earn 45000 EXP. Not that much since I already had more than 8000 EXP into level 10. Those developers always have a way to surprise you, whether it is a good or bad surprise. Well, all games I heard about before had some kind of a barrier before levels 10, 20 and so on. With the clever calculations, I surmised that Level 10 is equal to all levels before him. I better not think about levels above. Thinking whether to tell other players about this before reaching level 9 when all of them will eventually find out, I decided to tell them after the boss fight. I shouldn''t traumatize them before the fight. After maybe half an hour I saw a great number of players coming this way led by Borko. There were at least thirty players, as far as could count from my position. I stood up and they stopped when they arrived in front of the cave. , We came brother Raven." said Borko and the others also said hello mostly using the Doctor title I earned from them, What should we do? You can command us as you see fit." I looked at them, some of them I knew, some I didn''t, but I could see that all of them were eager to kill a Boss. , Okay ladies and gentlemen, this is how are we going to do it. Since the tunnel which leads to the cave in which Boss resides is narrow we are going to talk about strategy here. How many of you have shields and how many of you have bows, please stand on left and right sides. The rest should stay in the middle." When they heard me they grouped as I told them. Now I could see that there are nine players with shields, a dozen with bows and ten or so with swords, axes, and clubs. One or two healers should be nice right now, but pity that there are not yet any players with that class. , Very well, you guys with the shields will be in front. The first line will be with five of you the second with four, I will be together with you guys. You with the close combat weapons will be on the sides, five each on the left and right side. Archers will be behind. If the Boss wants to attack the archers stop him immediately if you can''t I will try to get to you as soon as possible. Archers don''t spare the arrows if some of you get wounded come to me. We must kill this Boss quickly and without any deaths. That will be the biggest victory. Let''s go." Everybody cheered and followed after me. I didn''t have any experience in leading a large number of people. How will my first leadership role go I don''t know. Will my strategy work, that I also didn''t know, this situation was a first for me. As we were walking through the tunnel I could hear players behind me talk excitedly. It would seem that for them this wasn''t anything new. Most of them probably had this kind of experience in other games. This fact made me a little calmer. We arrived at the cave and started entering one by one. First the shieldbearers and I, then close combat players at the sides and behind us archers. Rage NIghtmare didn''t wait for us to get in the formation it pounced at the first shieldbearer and he flew almost to the entrance. Good thing that archers were there so when he fell on two of them, they soften his fall. This made others a little confused so I charged at the Rage Nightmare with Borko and another player beside me. Two of them crashed with their shields and I banged it on the head with my staff. That felt good. Having others support you is a lot easier when fighting strong bosses. It seems that my hit stunned Boss as it struggled a little. This gave others the opportunity to assemble the formation. Shieldbearers stood in front, other close combat players stood at the sides and archers started firing their arrows. Arrow after arrow flew at the Rage Nightmare while it attacked at the shield bearers. After I checked the one that first got hit and made sure he is okay I returned to the fight. Rage Nightmare attacked the shieldbearers with all of its strength. But all of them had a solid defense and they helped each other to block its attacks. Seeing that it couldn''t pass through them to the irritating archers, Rage Nightmare turned to the sides. Swordsmen and axemen couldn''t wait anymore to join the fight so they took the initiative to attack first. I was scared that this will break the formation but this attack surprised the Boss because I saw it flinched a little. I used this chance and send two of the shieldbearers to that side to support them. Archers had the easiest time as they just released one arrow after another on the Boss. This slowly chipped at the Boss''s health bar. There were few close calls when the Boss almost reached archers. We had to move the entire line of shieldbearers to one side. I am afraid that if the Boss got to the archers we would be finished. Luckily we stopped it on time. When it''s health got to the critical level, the Boss got mad. That was when the chaos began. It was naive of me to think that all of us will survive this fight. When it got enraged the Boss jumped straight into the archer''s formation and started the slaughter. I could hear female players creaming as the male players tried to protect them. Then the first light went into the sky. Not long after two more followed. , Shiledbeabres surround it!" I yelled before it could kill more of the others. They quickly rushed at the Boss, swordsmen, and axmen as well. They slammed into Boss whether with the shields or with their own bodies. I also charged and slammed my staff right on its skull. All of the impacts seemed to slow it down a little so shieldbearers managed to make a circle around it. A few minutes later the Rage Nightmare finally fell after it managed to kill two more archers, one shieldbearer and two swordsmen. With that our casualties numbered eight people. We all fell to the ground and looked at the Boss which had wounds from swords and axes. Arrows stuck out all over its body. 22 Leaving the village Losses certainly outweighed the gains. Since there were more than twenty of us alive after the fight we didn''t even gain 1000 EXP each. 833 EXP to be exact. Long way until level 10. We slowly gathered our staff and few of the players took on the task to bring the body of the Rage Nightmare to the village. We may still get a reward from the chief if we bring it back. During the way back I revealed to others about the level 10 roadblock. I could see by their reactions that they were not pleased but I could also see understanding. They talked about how it was already hard enough, but this will still make the game more interesting. We did get some silver coins but shared between us it didn''t amount to a big number. I also paid other members of the group the losses they sustained from the arrows and to the ones that died during the fight. Just like that my savings dropped to around 30 silvers. Not that it mattered a lot, I was still the richest player in the village. When we finished with everything I started saying goodbyes to the other players. Tomorrow I will finally leave the village. I logged out of the game to take some real sleep and then after waking up and breakfast went to school. I almost forgot about my date with Maria from the all of the excitement Boss fight brought, but almost. I wanted to see Maria and talk to her right away but I knew that I should refrain from romantic stuff during school hours. When I entered teachers lounge I found Maria talking with Anna about something. When the two of them noticed I entered I could see on their faces what was it they talked about. Obviously, the conversation was about our date yesterday. Anna had a shy smile on her face. Maria, on the other hand, had that enchanting smile from yesterday when she looked at me. I smiled at her and walked to their desk. , Professors how are you this fine day?" I asked the two of them. , Very well" said Anna, you seem very happy professor Novak. It would seem that not even the autumn rain could not ruin your good mood." , Rain?" I asked and looked outside the window, was it really raining?" I really didn''t realize that the rain is still falling outside. Both of them laughed at my silly answer and Anna continued the conversation. , You must have fallen in love really hard, that not even this lousy weather has no effect on you." I was startled by Anna a little and then looked at Maria who was still smiling. Smitten by her beauty I could only give one answer. , I indeed have. If you ask me the sun is shining outside." Both of them laughed again which gathered the attention of our older colleagues. I could see their looks which told, oh its good to be young. In my case that was true. I must say that this is the happiest I have ever been. , So are you prepared to leave the village?" asked Maria and pulled me to reality. , There are a few small things left but otherwise, I am all set. You will wait for carriages, right?" , Yes." said Maria, by some chance Mia also ended up in our village so when we are all ready we will go together." , Wow, that''s nice, it would be good if Hope also ended with you when she enters the game. I promised to help you but now that I am leaving the village I can no longer do that. it is not certain in which village she will show up either way. By the way, to reach level 10 from level 9 you will need to gain as much experience as for the first nine levels." , So we will need 45000 EXP that will be hard." Maria, being a math teacher calculated very quickly how much experience points they will need for level 10. , So professor Novak you are already level 9, that is how you know about that." said Anna. , Yes, I almost thought that I would reach level 10 very quickly but reality shattered my dreams." , How so?" both of them asked. Then I told them about my fight with the Rage Nightmare, both solo and with the group. They listened to me attentively and I didn''t miss one detail. As I was talking I almost thought that I was recounting the movie I watched last night. Even Anna confirmed that when she said that the fight sounded like it was from a movie. , Your village should also have a Boss like this somewhere, so if you want to fight it you should gather other players and be prepared for anything." We talked a little more until the bell rang for the start of the classes. Seeing that the only three of us stayed in the lounge Maria winked at Anna who seeing that walked outside and waited at the door. I was afraid a little at first before seeing Maria''s smile when she talked to me. , Did you got afraid when my father looked outside the window?" , You were there with me so no." , That means you would be afraid if I wasn''t there?" , Maybe, probably not, no, of course not." Seeing expression on her face changing so changed my answer. , That''s more like it." she said, so now that you are busy with traveling in the game when we will see each other?" I almost said that we will still see each other at school, but quickly stopped myself. , How about Sunday? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, what time is good for you?" , Since you will busy during the day playing the game how about breakfast?" , Very well" I said, I will pick you at nine. Is that okay?" , Yeah" she said, smiled and gave me another sneaky kiss on the cheek. As she exited the lounge I could hear the two of them laughing quietly. Remembering that I am at school and that the class will start soon I hurried after them. I should not be late for the first time because of one kiss on the cheek. After school, I had lunch with my family and then logged into the game. Looking at the temple, in front of which I showed up I remembered everything that happened during my stay here. Farming, mining, killing monsters, collecting herbs, becoming a herbalist, healing others and of course that Boss fight from yesterday. A lot of things happened in this small village. I entered the temple and prayed to the Gods for a safe journey. I could have prayed to one of them but one day buff in a days-long journey wouldn''t be of much help. After that, I went to Donar to say goodbye. This blacksmith, on the first glance not so friendly to other people, helped me a lot during my say at the village. His wife was also there for some reason so I could thank her as well for providing my meals during my stay here. Then I went to the chiefs house to say goodbye and take the jerky from the first boar I hunted. Chief was sitting in front of his house on his wooden chair seemingly waiting for me. , You are finally leaving" he said, I must thank you for everything you did for the village. You really helped us a lot. Stay a little until we bring you your jerky." I sat in front of the chief on the little chair he brought from the house and we talked about the world outside the village, its beauty, and dangers. Not much time passed and I could see someone coming with the jerky. Judging by the bow on his back, he was one of the village hunters. He handed me boar jerky and I put it in my bag with the herbs. They should last a long time in here. Thinking that everything is ready, food, things for making medicine, herbs and bandages, two full flasks of water I filled before coming to the chief and of course leather armor on me and my staff I wanted to go on my way but chief stopped me. , Wait a moment my young friend ai have some gifts for you." said the chief and then asked the hunter, did you bring them?" , Yes chief we managed to finish it on time." the hunter said and handed two items to the chief. , Here you go this is a flint it will help you to set a fire in the wild. Fire is important for cooking food or making beast not dare to approach you during the night." , Thank you chief." I said as I took a small piece of strange looking rock in my hand. The only thing I needed was a fire striker but I guess my small knife will do for now. Before I could celebrate for this useful gift chief handed me the other one. I looked at it and remembered the Boss fight for yesterday at once. What chef handed me was a necklace. The necklace was made of teeth. And judging by the look of them they were the teeth of Rage Nightmare. They were strung on a thin string of leather. There were ten of them. The necklace looked very intimidating. I used Appraisal and put it around my neck. The stats and effects gave me a big surprise. Rage Nightmare necklace Rare Accessory Strength +10 Agility +10 Fear: make a lower level opponent scared for 5 seconds making it unable to attack back, there is a 20% chance to scare a higher-level opponent up to the 10 levels of the wearer for 2,5 seconds Cooldown 5 minutes What can I say except awesome? Accessories were amongst the rarest equips in the games and this one was a killer. Literally. I thanked chief once again and together with him started moving towards south gate. The chief said that he will escort me to the gates and see me off there. It didn''t take long reaching the south gate and there I said goodbye to the chief and some other villagers that were there. Moving away I could still hear kids playing just like the first day I came and I even heard Donar hitting the metal with his hammer in the smithy. Leaving my starting village behind me I knew that a new adventure awaits me in front of me. While I was walking on the road south I opened the chat option and called Marco and Wolf. They should have left their villages as well. I wasn''t wrong. Both of them also started their journey towards the town. , So did you take everything you need for the trip?" I asked them. , Of course!" said Wolf in his big voice. , Are you sure?" Marco asked him. I was certain that Marco prepared everything as I did, but Wolf didn''t give a picture of a guy who spends his time thinking what to pack for a trip. School trips are perfect examples of that. His mather packed him even in high school. But he still did his job as a police officer very admirable. He was never late for work and he was always prepared for everything. I guess that his adventuring spirit won''t let him prepare much stuff. His answer was just as we predicted. , I have my ax and a hammock. What else do I need? Haha, I am kidding I prepared everything I need." , Well as long as you arrive at the town safely it won''t matter what you brought with you along the way." said Marco. , That''s true." I said in approval. , Do not worry about me. I bet I will be first to arrive." , Realy? Do you have the money to make the bet?" I asked him. , That doesn''t matter, are two of you scared to make a bet." , Who is scared!" said Marco, the bet is on. How much should we bet?" , How about 5 silver coins?" I asked. , Wow rich man you really have money to spend?" asked Wolf. , I do. What about you?" I now jabbed at him a little. , Those 10 silver coins are mine. Good luck slowpokes." said Wolf and left the chat. , Well it seems that the game is on." said Marco and also left. Seeing as the two of them left I also put my legs on the road and slowly increased my walking speed which in some moments almost turned into running. The race begins. 23 Surviving in the wild The first two days of my journey were quite uneventful. The only thing that pushed me through those two boring days was my incoming second date with Maria. I picked her up in front of her house at nine o clock as we agreed upon. We went to a nearby bakery which had delicious pastries. We talked about what happened to us in the game, but since I had nothing exciting to talk about I talked about the scenery which was in front and beside me. Maria talked about how she and Anna helped her sister to catch up in levels and we talked about our families in general. After breakfast, we went for a little walk and then I escorted her back. Since her father was again looking at us from the window above, I could only wait for the kiss from Maria. Even though I collected the courage to kiss her by now I didn''t want her father to have a bad impression of me. I knew how fathers are protective of their daughters since my father is protective over Hope the same, if not more then Maria''s father. Maria saw that I am waiting. She smiled, kissed me on the cheek and went inside her house. This time I didn''t wait long but just nodded my head towards the window and went home. The third day of the journey towards the town began to look like the other two before it. As I was moving south on my right side there was still the mountain ridge. I still couldn''t see its end. On my left side there was a forest it wasn''t as lush as the one north of the village but I went by it for two straight days so it must be bigger. Today we can only see trees in parks in big cities, and if we want to see forests we need to exit towns and cities and go to the countryside. When people finally realized what are pollution and global warming doing to the Earth they made some progress in keeping the natural environment clean and started making it bigger again. My initial assumption was that this day will pass like the two others before it. I was traveling on the road and stopped only for my meals. When night fell I found a place to spend the night. I, of course, didn''t spend the entire night in the game, but I did sleep a little on the forest grass looking into the starry sky. I had to find a safe place from which I needed log out and log in. But after I walked for about an hour I came by a crossroad. Now it made sense why merchants had the bodyguards with them. There was a sign showing the way towards the mountain and a sign towards the forest. So I had two options two choose from even though the destination was the same. On both pieces of wood, there were the same two words, Little Fort. So, do I go over the mountain or through the forest? Since the old merchant said that the town was southeast the shorter path should be through the forest. I did see some marks on the ground which led on the mountain path. It must be from the carriages which go through this road. There were no visible marks going into the forest. This told me a few things. Either the mountain path was better for the carriages then going through the forest, or it is safer going over the mountain. I decided. Through the forest it is. It may be more dangerous but I still didn''t want to lose that bet I made with Wolf and Marco. There is one more thing that helped me choose which way to go. And it was more important then me winning the bet. Water. My two flasks of water won''t last ten days of journey, or even half of that, by the way. And it will be hard finding any source of water in the mountains, if not impossible. Merchants probably have barrels of water on their carriages. I, on the other hand, don''t. It may seem like food is only important for the hunger bar in the game but water is equally important. Because of that, I choose to go through the forest. Since my two flasks were getting empty, one already was and the other was half full, my first task going into the forest was to find some source of clean water. There is a river passing by the fields of the Little Rock village, going south or north, depends where its source is. Anyway, it should also pass through this forest so I should be able to find it. I decided to go straight east. Even though that makes me go deeper into the forest I should also quickly find the river. And if I follow the river I should also arrive at the town that way. I didn''t lower my attention for a second. Who knows if there will be some monster or a beast right in front of me. If developers truly made the game as realistic as possible than bears should by now start their winter dream. So the only predators I should pay attention should be wolves or a mountain lions if some of them went down the mountain. But animal predators were not the only thing I should worry about right now. There are more dangerous beings lurking in forests and rivers, and they are not just Rage Beasts and Rage NIghtmares. Walking slowly through the forest I spent my time picking herbs to refill my herb bag. During the Boss fight, I used medicine in one of my wooden boxes. So I refiled that one yesterday and now I should pick more herbs. This way I can improve my herbalist class. Going for a few minutes nothing happened, so far. Not that I wanted to get attacked as soon as I entered deep in the forest, but I wanted something to happen. A little excitement won''t hurt me, right? Like I could see into the future, something did happen. I heard some noise and ratling of the leaves and branches not far from me. I lowered my body down to the ground. I wasn''t sure what it could be and I didn''t want to take any risks. But as it showed up it seems that my caution was unnecessary. Trough the leaves I could see animals moving parallel with me deep into the forest. There was maybe a dozen of them, I couldn''t see them all because of the leaves. They walked on four legs, had short brown fur and big horns on their heads. Obviously, it was a herd of deer. I didn''t want to startle them so I waited for them to pass me a little before I started following them. Only then I paid more attention to them. The one leading them was the biggest stag in the group. His horns were also bigger than the others. There were two young ones and the rest were does and couple more bucks. After almost half a day walking behind them I could hear a flowing sound. River, I thought to myself. Of course, this deer herd must have been going to their watering place which should be this river. We arrived shortly. Deer went to drink water and I waited for them to finish. I didn''t want to give them any thought that I am provoking or hunting them. Instead, I looked at the river. On the other side was also forest, or should I say that the river was going through the forest. Its width was maybe twenty meters. How deep it was I couldn''t say from here. Deers were drinking water and I waited for them to finish. Then a light breeze passed us and deer herd got restless. At first, I thought that they smelled me but I was wrong. Or maybe they already did but didn''t felt any danger from me. Instead, they looked to the south from which direction came that light breeze. Ah yes, wind brings the scent with it. But what made them restless? Bucks surrounded fawns while the young ones drunk the water and does looked from the south direction and then into the forest left and right. The stag looked everywhere with the seriousness in his eyes. His small ears also moved in every direction. I used this opportunity to get a little closer to see what is happening. Then I could see four figures coming from the forest. they showed up maybe half a kilometer away from deer. I recognized them instantly. Wolves. They looked in this direction. I almost felt like they are looking at me but I knew they were looking at deer. But they just went to the river and started drinking water. Even predators and pray have the same watering places in the wild, so this is not that surprising. What surprised deer was probably the time at which wolves showed up. But seeing the wolves busy with drinking water, stag urged fawns to move. Using this time deer went back into the forest. That only left me and the wolves by the river. I was still hiding not daring to leave my spot. I had a feeling that wolves already spotted me, but didn''t pay any attention. Hopefully, they already ate before coming here. One of them looked in my direction, which made my blood chill in my veins. If four of them came at me together I would be finished very quickly. But after that, they entered the river and swam across to the other shore. At first, I was surprised why they didn''t go the way they came from or after the deer. Maybe their lair was on the other side of the forest or they had something to do on that side. Either way, I was now alone and could fill my flasks with water. I filled my flasks, collected my nerves a little and started moving down south by the river. I didn''t move directly by the river but I was near enough to see it. If I moved that way every being in the forest could see me if they looked in my direction. When I got tired I knew that it was time for me to eat. I sat down in front of a tree looking in the direction of the river, took the jerky from the bag and started eating. Jerky didn''t taste bad. Villagers must have made it with salt and some herbs since I could sense some herbal taste on the surface. After eating and drinking a little water I continued on my way. The river changed direction to the east a little and on times got smaller but it generally flowed south. As the night was slowly approaching I knew it was time for me to make the camp for tonight. I need to find a good spot where I could sleep and make a fire for the security. Previous two nights that passed by I camped by the road so I felt safe. But here inside the forest, I needed to be extra careful. I spent half an hour looking for a suitable place to spend the night. I finally found it, put my things on the ground and started a fire. Then I lied down trying to sleep a little and look for some signs if there are other beings here beside me. Lying down for some time I thought that my day will pass like this without any more excitement, but I was wrong. First I heard some small sounds from the ground and then some hooting in the air, followed by the silence. Those sounds repeated itself a couple more times and then nothing again. It seems that owls started hunting some small animals. I wanted to hear a little more and pay more attention If there are some other things out there. But all that hoot, hoot sounds made me feel tired and wanting to sleep so I logged out, thinking that owls will look after me tonight. 24 Surviving the wild During breakfast, I could see Hope''s impatient expression. Today is her 18th birthday which means that she can start playing the Age of Gods. She couldn''t wait anymore. But she will have to wait to return from school and then birthday dinner before she can log into the game. Our grandparents are also coming so that we can all celebrate her birthday together. We haven''t seen them in a couple of months so they will probably be all over us. I heard mom talking over the phone the other day with grandma about me having a girlfriend, so I am not sure who will get more attention from grandparents, me or Hope. Either way, we can only log into the game when we go to sleep tonight. I just hope that I won''t be eaten by something until then. School day passed as usual. Except that I started sitting with Maria and Anna every break between classes. Nick still pestered Anna from time to time but since I was with them more often he started behaving properly. After school, I walked two of them to their station and then I went to mine. When I arrived home grandpa and grandma were already there. They were with Hope talking about something, but when they saw me they immediately asked me about Maria. I talked with them until lunch and then they finally eased a little with girlfriend talk. Just before lunch came my uncle, my father''s brother, with his family, his wife and two of my brothers so we all celebrated Hope''s birthday together. After the cake and presents, we all talked a little more and then uncle and his family left home. Since our grandparents will stay for a couple of days more they let Hope to go and start playing the game, but I was not as lucky. I stayed with them for almost an hour talking about Maria. Not that I mind, but I wanted to go into the game as quickly as possible, who knows if something will happen. I somehow managed to get an excuse of being tired and went into my room, put my helmet on and logged into the game. I showed up at the same place I logged out from and thought that everything is okay. But I was wrong. I didn''t even have time to get up before I heard a grunt behind me. I rolled myself on the ground and something passed by me. I quickly stood up putting my staff in front of me ready to block the next attack. Looking ahead I saw a wild boar, not as big as the one I killed before in the form of Rage Beast but still big enough to know that that impact would hurt me a lot. Using appraisal I found out that the boar was Level 7, which should be easy for me. I didn''t want to fight with it, afraid that our fight will attract more wild beasts, but it was very insistent on fighting me. I could only oblige and try to finish it as soon as possible. A few minutes later boar fell dead on the ground, giving me some time to look around me. Getting attacked as soon as entering the game is not so great. If it was a stronger opponent I would be the one lying down on the ground. But what to do now with this boar? I have neither skinning nor cooking skills and carrying it with me to the town is a foolish thing to do. I could try skinning it with my small knife and try to make a fire and then fry it a little, but that would take a long time. I should first check all of my things. Maybe that boar trampled on them. I was close to them but I hope everything is in order. Thankfully nothing was trampled. Leather bags were near the tree and the boar didn''t pass near them. The only thing I got was 2000 EXP. That much I got from wild boar Rage Beasts, which means that regular boars are weaker than Rage Beasts. That makes sense. Just as I took all of my things and put the bags over my shoulders I heard a new sound not far from me. Now what? Looking around me I slowly started walking south. Good thing I did. A bear showed up. And it was a big one. I guess this one didn''t yet enter winter sleep. He must have somehow smelled the boar I killed and was nearby. Using Appraisal after forth try I found out that the bear was level 15. There is no chance that I would win that fight. I better leave. Bears are not kings of the forest for nothing. Going downstream I was paying attention to every sound or movement I saw. How did our ancestors survive in this kind of environment in ancient times with all those wild beasts is beyond me. If even mythological beings really existed mankind wouldn''t have lasted until now. The good thing is that mythology is just that, a mythology. Just as I was thinking about my grandpa''s teachings I sensed shiver down my back. Few drops of sweat slid down my face and all of a sudden a bad feeling came over me. I stooped at once and slowly looked around me. There was nothing in front, on my left was the river so no danger came from there, yet, and on my right was the forest. At first, I thought that the danger came from the forest but I soon found out that I was wrong. Well, technically I was not wrong, the danger was behind me, but it did come from the forest. Looking back I saw a boar. Or what was left of it to be more precise. Half of its face was missing, its belly was almost all eaten and from it, I could see innards dangling when it moved. One of its back legs were almost gone, but it still moved like it had all four. It seems that the bear didn''t finish his meal. He was probably interrupted midway. Good thing it was only that. As soon as my brain gave the order my legs started a sprint. Boar or what was left of it started chasing me right away. It was even faster than when it was alive. But why did I run away? I could kill one undead boar right? I probably could, but not what was behind it. There was nothing behind it for now but I know that it watched from the forest. The only thing that could bring back a dead animal to life was a Lesnik. Lesnik was a forest demon from Slavic mythology. Its powers were that it could sprout new flesh on a long-deceased animal and bring it back to life. It would seem that here even recently dead animals could be brought back. It can also transform into a tree or an animal. Its true form was similar to centaurs but that''s where similarities ended. I didn''t want to think about its appearance, my only thought was to escape. I ran as fast as I could but the boar followed me without any difficulty. I think that I ran at least 10 minutes with boar behind me. I could feel that I was getting tired. Full sprint would do that. What to do? If I entangle in battle with boar, Lesnik may show up and that would be the end for me. If I continue to run I would tire out. Boar doesn''t have that problem. If I run into the forest... Neither option is good for me. There is one more option but that one was even more uncertain. I didn''t have the time to second guess myself. I turned left right away, towards the river. Since I was already close, it didn''t take long to reach it. I took one more glance at the boar and seeing that it is getting closer, I entered the river. First few meters river was deep until my waist. After that, I couldn''t reach the bottom anymore. I put my thoughts about undead boar and Lesnik aside and concentrated on swimming over to the other side. I was not a bad swimmer. We went to the sea every year with our parents when we were little and there is also a river at the grandparent''s place. I still go swimming in the river when I go there and if the weather is good. So, I was a good swimmer. The only thing I was concerned was demons. Yes, demons. Just like there are forest demons there are also water or river demons. This river didn''t apparently have them or they just didn''t live at this particular place. I managed to swim on the other side very quickly. After I got out I lied down on my back and spread out my arms and legs. I even took out my tongue out of my mouth like dogs do when they are tired. I took a quick look of the other shore where undead boar stood calmly. I think that I saw some branches move in the forest and then undead boar moved towards that place. When the boar entered the forest I felt relief and put my head on the ground. I didn''t rest for long. Who knows what lives on this side of the forest. I remembered those wolves from yesterday and a new shiver came over me. I quickly looked at my things to see if I dropped anything. Everything was here but only some herbs and bandages on top of the leather bags got wet. Good thing was that my jerky stayed dry. Herbs I had to throw away since they couldn''t be used now but bandages I could still use after drying them off. I also had to dry my clothes. I don''t know if I can get sick in the game but better safe than sorry. I found a safe place, I guessed it was safe and started a fire. Then I found some branches and made a makeshift dryer. I also took something to eat and drink since I a had to wait for my clothes to dry and I was tired from running away and swimming through the river. I tried to chat a little with Wolf and Marco and see how are they doing, but it seems that they were busy with something. I didn''t want to distract them so I ended the chat. While I was sitting and drying myself I could hear some howls in the distance. Judging by the volume of the sound they were rather far away, which was good for me. I didn''t want to encounter another close death situation just as I escaped one. After the clothes dried enough to be worn I got dressed and was ready to continue. I spent almost an hour drying my clothes. I had to travel on this side now since danger was lurking from the other. But not being sure how big the forest extended in this direction I could travel just near the river. This was both safe and dangerous. It was safe since I didn''t need to go into unknown and dangerous if someone stronger than me chased me and I had to cross the river again. From time to time I entered deeper into the forest to explore more and to get used to the new environment. For some reason, I had a feeling that I will need to go deeper into the forest sometime in the future. By the end of the day, I didn''t encounter anything which would present me danger. I did saw some smaller animals but I left them alone and when they saw that I don''t represent any danger they also left me. I made camp a little further in the forest. I found a place where trees were a little denser. This should be a place to hide me better from beasts and demons, I thought. I just hope that tomorrow I won''t need to wake up in the game like I did today. 25 Pursuit after pursui First thing I wanted to do after waking up and going to the bathroom was to find Hope and ask her how was her first day in the game. I found her in the living room watching TV with father waiting for mother to make breakfast. I sat together with them and asked her. , So Hope what do you think, how was your first day?" , It was awesome, everything feels so real and I already reached level 3." She said with excitement and little pride. , What, how did you manage to reach level 3 in one day?" , Haha, you will never guess." , Of course, I won''t, when that is impossible for you to do solo. Someone must have helped you. Did some boys offer you their help to raise your level to get close to you? Do you know that dad will kill me if I allow some boys to get near you? You don''t like your brother very much I see. And I even bought you a helmet." , Don''t be a crybaby or I will tell you to your girlfriend. Let''s see how will you explain that to her." , What do you mean my girlfriend, we only went on two dates. I do consider her like that, but I am not sure if it is too soon to call as a couple." , She doesn''t think that it is too soon." , How do you know that? Wait did she help you leveling? Don''t tell me you started in her''s village also." , Yup, you finally guessed. She and sister Anna are helping me and Mia to catch up. I should catch up to them in two or three days." , Unbelievable. I can not believe that you also ended up in that village. Is that village full or pretty girls or what. Why couldn''t I get there?" , You want to watch other girls?" said Hope, I will say that to big sis Maria." , You will be the death of me and not some monster in the game one-day little sister. I just said that because I wanted to be together with Maria not to watch some other girls. There are no girls like her anyway, right?" , Ha, you finally said something I can tell her for real." , Anyway I will need to thank her and Anna for taking care of you today at school. You don''t forget to thank them either. And if you need any help always tell me. What is your name in the game?" , You should know that already, so I won''t tell. But don''t worry I will ask you if we need something and I already thanked them, Mia said that we are already a family anyways." , You hear son?" butted in my dad, already a family, when will you bring that girl home so that we can see her." Then I heard mom from the kitchen. , Bring her as soon as you can son. And come on all of you, breakfast is ready." Seeing their comments all I could say is, yes mom and yes dad. During breakfast, I and Hope talked more about the game and I told her what happened to me last night. She listened with great care and at the end said. , Hmm I could have taken care of them in one punch." And then she swang her fist in the air. Mom, dad and I could only laugh. At school, I talked to Maria and Anna and thanked them for looking after Hope. They only smiled and said it was no big deal. Anna even repeated what Mia told Hope about us already being a family. Maria blushed and I just smiled. How could I tell her now that my parents want me to bring her over? I should do that on one of the next dates. What surprised me the most was Anna. She usually doesn''t comment like that. It seems that Hope''s behavior brushed on her after one day. Well, Hope has that effect on people, especially innocent girls. Is Anna going to call Hope Big sister next time? I hope not. After school, when we were parting at the metro station Maria and I agreed to have the next date on Friday. Since she had to babysit our sisters in the game, and for them to reach Maria''s and Anna''s level will need at least three days. Before she could turn around to go with Anna on the metro I gently kissed her cheek. I finally gathered enough courage to at least kiss her on the cheek. She was pleasantly surprised as I saw her blush and after a quick smile, I noticed on her face, she kissed me back and turned around with Anna. I could hear their giggling as they moved away and a happiness came all over me. Ha, having a girlfriend is really great. When I arrived home we had lunch and Hope and I went to our rooms to play Age of Gods. Another hard day for me in the forest I presume. I found myself in the same place I fell asleep yesterday. I got up and looked around. Seeing that everything was in order and that I was safe I sat down. This dense part of the forest was good for hiding but I can''t stay here. I must move and keep walking until I reach town Little Fort. With all these troubles I wonder why I didn''t reach level 10 in the village and waited for the carriage. But what happened, happened. I must look forward to the future. I checked my things and when I counted everything I continued my journey through the forest. I started moving west so that I can reach the river which will show me the way. If I just go through the forest it will be easy to get lost. Half an hour later I found myself looking in the eyes of another boar. And very quickly after that one, another showed up. It would seem that in this part of the forest there are more of them. And judging by their level they are stronger. Both boars were level 8. They gave me a little trouble since they attacked one after another. My agility came to sight since I had to evade two attacks in a very short time. After killing them I gained 6000 EXP, but I didn''t pass unscathed. On one occasion both of their attacks came at the exact same time, so I could only evade one of them. I tried to block the other with my staff but, the staff is not a shield and it can''t cover a bigger surface. Because of that attack, one boar hit my leg and almost flipped me upside down. Good thing is that my agility is high enough, so I landed on my feet but that landing aggravated my wound from boars tusk and it made me bleed more. After the fight, I put medicine on my wound and dressed it with bandages. If nothing else my Wound Dressing skill is raising steadily. Well, it will need more time for any of my skills to reach level 1. This just shows how hard it is to raise anything in this game. Some skills only have levels like Wound Dressing or Bone Mending. Other have tiers like my Staff Mastery or Herb Appraising. I am a Beginner level in both of them, so there should be tiers like Intermediate, Advanced, Master and so on. What could be the highest tier I don''t know. When I finished dressing my wound I drank a little water and continued on my way. I needed one more hour to arrive at the river. I didn''t go over there immediately. I first looked around to see if there are any beasts in sight and only when I was sure that I was alone I got close to the river. I filled one of my flasks of water and quickly went into the shadows of the trees. I didn''t need to fill this flask since I had a little more water in it and the other was full, but I wanted to be prepared for anything if some problems arise. I continued moving south following the river and a couple of hours after the sun was highest I stopped to rest and eat something. I finally found something else aside form boar jerky to eat for lunch. I still ate jerky but having different tastes from time to time is a good thing. A little further in the forest from the place at which I stopped to eat, I found apple trees. There were several of them and some still had fruit on them. I ate two apples after I ate jerky, and started picking them from the trees. I wanted to have at least one for every day on my journey. After I picked the fifth apple from the tree and put it in my bag, I heard some sounds behind me. Turning around I saw a pack of wolves. They were slowly surrounding me. I saw four of them and judging by how they looked they were the same ones I saw at the river the other day. Two of them were on the side of the river one closing from the side and other from behind me. The other two were moving from the other side positioned parallel to their companions. It was like looking in a mirror. Behind them, there was one more wolf, almost all colored in black. That must be the pack leader I thought. Seeing all of them lasted only a moment. I tried to move away slowly going backward, but they were still following me. I must have crossed into their territory. When they crossed the river I didn''t see in which direction they went after entering the forest. It may be that forest on this side of the forest is their whole territory. And me being here makes me a trespasser. In Slavic mythology, wolves were mentioned in both good and bad context. They were sometimes protectors and sometimes they were mentioned as demons. Fall is the time of the wolves and it is a time when their names shouldn''t be called. Seeing as they were getting closer and closer I decided to risk it again. Two times in two days I was in mortal danger. How unlucky could I be, that on both sides of the river there are stronger beings than myself? On this side wolves and on the other Lesnik. Well, it''s my fault. I wanted to go before reaching level 10 and not waiting for the carriage which will move players to the town. Even level 10 wouldn''t help me in this situation. I run into the unknown of the forest and didn''t look back. Turning your back is a bad thing encountering a wild beast, but what could I do. I heard that black wolfs howl from behind me. The rest of the pack answered the call with their own howls and then silence. Yes, they stopped following me. Of course not. Whoever thinks like that would be dead by now. They don''t need sounds so that they can communicate between themselves. All of them know what to do and which role is which. Silence couldn''t mean anything good. I didn''t dare to look back because I knew that if I do, that will slow me down and I would be caught. I looked in front of me and continued running. One tree, one more and another one. Every tree looked the same in this situation. I had a thought to find a tree climb it and wait for them to get bored watching over me and leave. But if that would work or not I have no idea, since there was no tree with branches low enough for me to climb. I put that idea in the back of my mind and continued running away. I run deeper and deeper into the forest. At one moment I thought why haven''t they caught me yet. There were more of them and they were faster for sure. They could have caught me already. Then it hit me. They were cautious. They maybe haven''t seen a human yet or they were unsure what could I do if I was moved into a corner. They waited for me to tire out and then move for the kill. To be sure I turned my head around and found out that my guess was correct. The distance between us was always the same. It wasn''t reducing or increasing. They were running at the same pace. Since I had experience in running away from that undead boar I knew that I would tire out before wolves. I made my way even further east into the forest hoping that I will maybe reach its end. I was running like that for ten minutes. Thinking that I will gain some endurance if I eat jerky I took one slice of it from the bag and started eating while running. My limit is five more minutes of running like this so I wanted to try everything I could. Seeing that forest is still not ending in a moment of inspiration a made a desperate move. I turned towards the wolves. The one closest to me was startled for a brief second which allowed me to get close to him. I swung my staff at him with all my strength in the direction of the other wolf. Either, gods looked upon me or some luck found me. I managed to hit that wolf and send it towards its companion. Even stun from my staff proked and I immediately run south thinking that this will slow them down a little. I bought myself more than only two seconds which stun could do. Wolves must have been confused with my move. They certainly didn''t expect me to turn around and attack one of them. My next thought was that since this forest was fairly big it couldn''t be the territory of one wolf pack. Their territory must end somewhere. But whether next territory had another wolf pack, I didn''t want to think about that. I thought that they will now move even faster but nothing happened, Couple minutes later I heard a howl from the pack leader. I turned my head quickly and saw that they are slowing down. Yes, yes, I managed to escape. But where to, was another question. I did enter the part of the forest which wasn''t under this wolf pack, but who it belonged to? I continued walking south and half an hour later I came across the strangest sight I saw since I started playing Age of Gods. Here deep in the forest, I stumbled upon a tree house high in the crown of one big tree. Could it be that someone lives here? 26 Priest of the Veles Truly a strange sight appeared in front of me. Here deep into the woods, a tree house appeared. What was even stranger was that the tree house didn''t appear to be built. It looked more like it just sprouted out. Like the crown of the tree, shaped up in the form of the house. Walls were made of wood and the roof was covered with leaves. The entrance was covered with lianas full of leaves. It was green on all sides. I couldn''t see how big it was but I would say that from here it looked rather big. Or it was just the tree that was big and the tree house happened to be there. Was anyone in? It finally hit me that someone should be here, but who or why they lived here was unknown to me. Do I climb up and enter to check it out. What if the resident is not hospitable and kicks me out? What do I do then? Maybe no one was here and I should just go for it. Before I had a chance to decide a voice talked to me. , Oh, a guest, I haven''t had a guest in a long time. Climb up, youngster, and tell me how you ended up here." That voice sounded like it came from all around me. From the trees around me and grass below me, it sounded like the forest itself talked. As soon as the voice quieted down, I could see something crawling down from the house. It was shaped like a ladder but it was made from lianas. Thinking that making my host wait is rude I walked over the tree and started climbing. The ladder was very hard and there was no way that it could be broken. Thinking about how someone made this kind of ladder, I finally arrived in front of a door. Leaves moved aside and that voice talked again. , Come in." I listened and entered. The first thing that caught my attention was a meter tall statue of a bear. It looked very imposing. Remembering statues of Gods in the village temple I remembered Veles, Lord of the Forest. There was nothing more in this room. I could see two more entrances to the other rooms but they too were covered in leaves. As I was looking around this room trying to find something else, leaves moved from one of the entrances and a man appeared. I carefully looked at him, trying not to stare. He was covered in leaves all over his body. It looked like a cloak of leaves. I couldn''t see if he had anything beneath or if he was skinny, fat, muscular or regular sized. His face didn''t tell much either. He had a bushy black beard, black hear, brown eyes and regularly sized nose. If he were to appear anywhere else in a decent attire and shaved he would have looked like an ordinary guy. But nothing about him said ordinary. He saw me looking at him and he also looked at me. We were looking at each other like that for two minutes or longer and he finally said. , Oh sorry, youngster, I haven''t seen a human in a long time, I was wondering if you changed a little." , Are you not a human?" I asked with great shock. Was this maybe Veles, God of Forests? It can''t be that he lives in this forest. But I was soon proved wrong. , Human, me? Ah, yes I am human too. Old age does that. I almost forgot. Sorry, I thought I was a tree." , A tree?" The more I heard this man talk the more I thought that he was crazy. , Yes, a tree. You see a few years before, I merged with a tree to see how it lives and some memories stuck with me. That is why I thought I was still a tree." , But who are you really and why are you living here." , Me? I am Veran Treegrower, a priest of Veles. Have you heard of him? Really hard guy to find. As for why I am living here is simply because I like it here. Nothing wrong with that, right? Who are you by the way and how did you come here?" , I am Wise Raven, an adventuring traveler. By the way is there somewhere a place to sit down. I am very tired?" , Oh, how rude of me. Like I told you I haven''t'' had a visitor in a long time. Here, let''s sit down and talk." Veran moved his hand a little and two chairs made of wood and leaves came out of the floor of the tree house. I didn''t have time to admire him more because he sat down on his chair and continued the conversation. , Wise Raven, you said. Isn''t it too early for you to have a name like that? You are still young to have a name like that. What is your born name?" , Well my friends gave me that name, and the name my parents gave me is Novak." , Novak, meaning first born, a nice name. That is how I am going to call you from now on. You can call me Veran for now. So how did you found yourself in my part of the forest?" I told Veran about my plight this past couple of days. How I started traveling to the Little Rock town and how I went through the forest and my encounters with death. When he heard what I went through he laughed like a madman. , Hahahahaha, you are either a stupid fool or a very brave one. You should have known not to enter into the unknown forest. Our Lord may be Lord of the Forests but he can''t be in all the forests at once. There are some in which evil beings resign and you can find beasts in almost all of them. But I admire your resourcefulness. Few people at your level would make out alive from those situations. So what are you going to do now? I know that town which you are talking about. It was there even in my younger days. If you want to go there when you exit my territory you will most certainly find more dangers. And I bet you, that luck won''t follow you every time. I don''t exit my part of the forest, only in extreme situations, so I can''t help you." Thinking about Veran''s words I was thinking what to do. My thought wondered away for a moment while I was thinking about how old is Veran. But I soon gave up on that and started thinking for real what to do. , Is there any way in which you can help me now, so that I can move easily in the forest. Can you teach me?" Veran looked at me curiously and then asked. , Do you want to become a priest of Veles?" I was surprised at first and then a notification appeared in front of me. " Class quest Priest of Veles is available. If you accept Veran''s invitation you will embark on this quest. Would you like to accept his invitation? Yes No" Wow, a class quest appeared. This is what I hoped for. First I had to ask Veran one question but I think that it won''t change my answer. , Are priests of Veles druids?" , Well you can say it like that. Druids are a general name for people who follow nature gods and worship nature itself. Druids are called like that in the far west of the continent. The rest of us somehow got included in that name also, but we are calling ourselves as we should, priests of Veles. So do you want to join us then?" , Yes of course!" I said as fast as I could. Just as I hoped before I entered the game, I wanted to become a druid. I wasn''t 100% sure if they are incorporated in Slavic mythology in the game but this made it clear. "Quest, Priest of Veles, accepted For more information talk to Veran" , Good, good. Our Lord will be pleased and so will the rest of my brothers. And they said I would never teach a disciple myself. Haha, I proved them wrong." I was a little concerned with Veran''s personality but he then said. , It''s getting late, we will start your teachings tomorrow. For the night rest in this room and tomorrow, I will tell you everything you want to know and what you should do." Then he moved his hand with small motion and a bed of leaves appeared on the floor of the room. , Well, good night Novak, rest well, you will need it." Before he could enter one of the rooms I remembered something and used Appraisal on Veran. I wasn''t sure if it will work, but maybe because I already knew him my Appraisal worked on the first try. When I looked later at my skill progress I found out that this one Appraisal raised my proficiency from 21% to 31%. Whole 10 %. That was the highest number one of my skills grown so far in one go. Well, it isn''t that strange when you look at Veran. This is what I found out. Veran Humanoid NPC Class Druid ( Priest of Veles ) Subclass ????????? Level ??? Not much right? But when you think about how my Appraisal raised by 10 % and that I couldn''t see his level it showed how strong he is. I wouldn''t be surprised if his level was in three digits. he even has a subclass. I wonder what is it. He entered his room and I slowly lied down on the bed of leaves after laying aside my things on the floor. Then I logged out and fell asleep. When I got up the first thing I thought was, when will I be back from work so that I can get back into the game as soon as I can. Getting a class is a very exciting thing. I could have probably got the class when I arrived in Little Rock Town, but getting it sooner brings great benefits. During breakfast, I asked Hope how is she doing and bragged to her about how I am going to get a class. . Wow, big brother, you are really fast. Most of the players have yet to leave the village. You should tell that to big sis Maria, she will like you even more than." , Haha you really know what to say to other people to make them happy. My little sister is very smart. By the way, what class are you going to choose? I haven''t ask Maria and Anna either." When she heard me praising her, she blushed and smiled. , Of course, I am smart. That is obvious. Who first noticed that big sister Maria likes you?" True, Hope and Mia noticed that immediately. I like Maria and she likes me, but if Hope didn''t give me any advice. we would have still talked only at teachers lounge at school. , As for the classes we are not sure yet. We will think about that when we arrive at the town. Big brother are we going to be in the same town?" I haven''t thought about that. Wolf, Marco and I figured out that we will be in the same town. But I am not sure if the girls will end up also there. , I am not sure Hope. If the name of the town you guys can go is Little Rock than yes. I would like that as well. Then I can help you out." , You mean help big sis Maria. You want to show her how strong you are." she giggled. . I will help all of you." I said helplessly. At school between classes, I talked with Maria and Anna. Nick also sat with us, so seeing his surprised face when I told them that I already found a class instructor, was priceless. He couldn''t believe that I am faster and better than him. After school and lunch at home, I first got over some curriculum for the future. Since I am a great history nerd, there are rare times when I need to repeat something I already learned for class. But even I can''t remember everything. Getting into the game. I woke up and as soon as I did I heard Veran''s voice from the other room talking to me. , Are you ready young Novak? Climb down and wait for me there. Eat something and then we will begin." I couldn''t wait anymore. I will become a druid soon. But first, let''s pray to Veles. If I want to become one of his priests I will need to pray to him daily from now on. 27 Observing the nature I haven''t even started learning anything but I was already surprised. When I finished my prayer a buff appeared. While I was climbing down the tree I almost fell down. Buff was four times stronger than usual. My tittle Fiest Believer grants me double effect than it already is. In village regular buff gives 5 points in strength and endurance and 10% reduced damage from beasts. That gives me, 10 points and 20% damage reduction. But when I prayed right now I gained 20 points in strength and endurance and 40% reduced damage. That means that if any other player prayed in the forest they would gain 10 points in strength and endurance and 20 % reduced damage from beasts. Even duration is extended to 12 hours, or in my case 24. A whole day buff, I couldn''t believe it. While I tried to come to myself from shock I heard Veran''s voice from behind me. How did he already climb down is a mystery. , What is wrong young Novak, you seem unsettled, are you sure that you are ready for what is to come.\" , I am ready, but I want to ask you something. How is it that when I prayed to Veles in the village I gained a smaller blessing than when I prayed now?\" , Haha, that is what''s bothering you? It''s easy to explain. Where are we right now?\" , In the forest.\" I answered. I mean we are in a forest, that is obvious. But what has that to do with having a greater blessing. I saw Veran looking at me expecting that I will find the answer. Then it came to me. Of course, this is a forest and also the domain of the Veles, God of Forests, Fields, and animals. It is perfectly normal that Veles will give you a greater blessing if you pray to him in his domain. , I see that you figured it out. Our Lord presides over nature so it is no surprise that his blessings would be greater in this kind of environment.\" , Is it the same with other gods? What of God of War Yarilo, he doesn''t have a domain does he?\" , You are still naive my young disciple. That is good for me because I will teach you more. The War God also presides over the Moon, so night is his domain, especially with the moon high in the sky. War is also his domain. His blessings are the greatest when warriors are praying to him before the battle. Not all domains are physical and in a specific place. But it will be time in the future to talk about other gods. We should start with your teachings.\" , Great, what should I do?\" I couldn''t wait anymore. , I like your enthusiasm, but I am afraid that you will be disappointed. We priests of Veles, or any other druids, in general, are a peaceful bunch, with some exceptions, or in cases, our forests are in danger. Just like that, beginnings for becoming a druid are also peaceful. So the first and only thing you are going to do today is to walk around the forest and observe.\" , Observe? Observe what?\" , Everything around you. Earth, grass, trees, leaves and flowers, animals which live here. If you want to serve the God Of Forest you must know his domain and denizens that live in it. It is easy to become a warrior, hunter or a thief. You just need to take a sword, bow or a dagger and kill something or someone. All druids learn to live in cohabitation with nature and its inhabitants.\" , But how druids learn their disciples in towns and cities, there are no forests there?\" , Haha, of course, they don''t teach them there. That is because there are no druids in towns and big populated places. There are some exceptions, but even if they live in such places they do not take in disciples. You won''t see any temples dedicated to our Lord in such places. There may be some temples but they are for our Lords another persona which presides over fields and cattle. Farmers are his believers also. Enough chitchat, you should go. My territory is marked with specific trees so you will not lose yourself and wonder out somewhere. Return before nightfall, then we are going to talk about what you learned.\" Having said that Veran disappeared right in front of my eyes. It almost looked like he entered a tree. But I didn''t have time to be amazed because I heard something that made me feel flabergasted and lucky at the same time. There are no druids in towns. Which means that I couldn''t have become one if a haven''t manage to come here. Are those ten points in luck attribute working or not I couldn''t know. Not wanting to lose any more time I looked around me and started walking through the forest. I didn''t walk in any general direction. I walked in one direction then another like a lost child in a shopping mall. Since Veran said that I will know when I reach the end of his territory I didn''t need to worry about finding trouble or trouble finding me. Walking through the forest, I did as Veran told me. I observed. Green grass which grows from the earth, trees rising high in the sky, and a few small animals here and there. To be honest, I don''t know how is this going to help me, but it must have some use. I tried to see as much as possible until the day ends. I don''t know if it was enough, but all around me, everything was the same. Same trees, same grass, flowers, and animals were maybe the only thing which had a little more variety. When lunchtime came I found a quiet place and ate my meal for today. I still had jerky and several apples so I didn''t need to worry about being hungry. I should be able to find something if I stay here more than I planned to. Maybe that bet isn''t mine to win. When it started getting dark I decided to return to the Veran''s tree house. , Come up and tell me what you saw.\" I heard his voice coming from all around me and with great awe climbed up. Speaking like you are the part of the forest must need a lot of...Exercise? I don''t know what will I need to do to be able to do that as well. I entered the house and saw him sitting in a wooden chair like the one we sat on yesterday. Another one appeared from the floor and I sat down. , So what did you see?\" , I saw many trees, green grass everywhere and animals going through the forest.\" , Ha, as expected, you will need time. What you told me about could be any other forest. You will need to spend some more time observing the forest. Go to sleep now, tomorrow morning walk around the forest again.\" I could only listen to what he said and do it again tomorrow. A new day came a new school day and after that more observing. This day wasn''t any different than the one before. I didn''t manage to see anything new. Veran said that until I manage to discover what I need to discover by myself I will need to observe. Luckily Friday came and so did my date with Maria. A little break from the same scenery and enjoying a date with Maria must help a little to relax. , So where are we going?\" asked Maria with a smile which melted all my stress when I came to get her. , Would you like to take a walk through the park, then we can grab something to eat?\" , Sure. It seems that walking through the forest in the game is not enough, so now you want to experience it in reality.\" , I can''t say that you are wrong. I just wanted to see it from another perspective. Being with you gives me a peace of mind so I thought that I will maybe notice something.\" , Aren''t you a smooth talker?\" she smiled and put her arm around mine, What are we waiting for let''s go see the nature in the middle of the city.\" I took her arm and smiled at her comment. It''s true, we are in the middle of the city and finding nature is not an easy task. We walked around like that for some time, but to be honest, I was spending my time more looking at Maria, then parks nature. She noticed me looking at her and couldn''t help but smile. , You are much prettier than birds singing on trees or a leaves falling down from them, I couldn''t help myself.\" I said. , Well since I got you distracted from observing real nature, tonight is my treat.\" , As you wish, I said, but know that I will always be distracted when I am with you.\" She smiled, confirming my previous statement. Seeing my dazed look she laughed out loud. That got the attention of the people around us. They were also many couples walking through the park. Men looked in my direction with jealousy and admiring, while women admonished them. I even saw one girl hitting her boyfriend on the back of his head, because he started at Maria longer then he should. I am really a lucky man. After we grabbed a little bite I escorted her back home. Now I didn''t even pay attention to the window. We kissed each other on the cheek and after she encouraged me to continue what I am doing I left. Why didn''t I kiss her on the lips? Because I want to be with her longer than this couple of weeks. And I don''t want to die prematurely. I may have not paid any attention to the window anymore, but I wasn''t delusional. Maria''s father is still there. If I dared to kiss her on the lips, I bet you that something would be flying at me from that window. In any case, everything with Maria is going smoothly. We like each other and that is all that matters. On the other hand, my progress in the game stopped at that forest. I need to be more observant I thought. This new day started like the other two. I left Veran and went deep into the forest to try and find some clues. This time I started looking at everything in the forest with more attention. My eyes and ears were ready for anything. I was looking first at every blade of grass. They all moved in the same direction when the wind blew. They had the same color, but they were not the same at the same time. One was bigger one was smaller and every blade of grass had different veins on them. The same was for leaves. I took the ones that fell from trees and looked at them carefully. They may look the same but they weren''t. Trees were also like that. One was bigger, one smaller, other had more leaves, another less. This one is thicker than that one and this one has more bark on it than the one beside it. Animals moved on their way through the highway of grass and tree branches. When I sat to eat I resumed my observation. I looked at one tree in front of me. Half of its leaves were still green and the other was already yellow. A wind blew and one yellow leaf started falling onto the ground. Still, on the tree, I saw mother bird feeding her chick. On another one, a little squirrel was moving something in the hole of the tree getting ready for winter. When that leaf fell on the ground I looked there. It wasn''t the only one. There were more yellow leaves. They were decomposing, serving as nutrients for the tree they fell from. A little further away I could see a fox hunting some little animal. It didn''t take long and with one bite fox broke the spine of the little creature and left. Even when night fell I didn''t return but I stayed and observed. Even now forest was alive. It''s just that other creatures were roaming in it. I could hear owls looking for pray and even more leaves falling down. I fell asleep like that under the starry sky Since Saturday came and I didn''t need to go to work, nobody woke me up at home. Instead, I woke up in the forest. Opening my eyes I could see morning dew on every blade of grass. I could see a couple of meters in front of me flower bloom, welcoming the sun that started rising from the east. From that big tree, I heard birds singing and the little chick trying to fly after its mother. It must have been trying for a long time, but today I witnessed its first flight. It followed its mother a little and then they returned to the nest. I stood up and started walking back to Veran. I could see and hear more than yesterday. It was a totally new feeling. Like the forest opened up to me. I arrived and for the first time, Veran waited for me outside. , What did you see?\" he asked me, this time with a dignified voice like he knew I already changed. , I saw night and day, life and death, reality and beauty, ferociousness and calmness of the forest. I saw same life both living and dying. I saw balance.\" , I see...\" said Veran, Nature''s call is hard to hear but you managed to do it. You just began hearing the voice of the wild. But the long journey is still ahead of you. The first task is completed. Are you ready for the second?\" 28 Meditation takes time , Yes, I am.\" , Excellent, now that you managed to hear and see nature for what it really is, it is time for you to feel it.\" , Feel it? How am I going to do that?\" , As the rest of us before you. You must meditate. By meditating in the forest, you should after some time manage to feel nature''s energy. After you do that comes the final task. Harnessing nature''s energy. But first, you must meditate. Go again into the forest and find a quiet place. There, you should start.\" , Very well. I will start as soon as possible.\" I said and moved back into the depths of the forest. Around me, I could hear Veran''s voice. , You do not need to hurry. Have a rest and calm yourself before you begin. And know that feeling nature''s energy is not that easy. You may need even more time for that. More than you used to observe nature.\" Then his voice faded away. Only, the forest could be heard now. I decided to return to the place I managed to finish my first task. This time I sat in front of that big tree, crossed my legs and closed my eyes trying to feel nature''s energy. I soon gave up, my legs cramped and after the last success, I felt like I should rest up a little. I should also log out for a bit and get something to eat. Since day and night are reversed in game and reality, I almost slept over the whole Saturday. I was up just in time for lunch. As I was exiting my room Hope was right in front. , Oh big bro, you are up. What happened in the game? Mom and dad wanted to wake you up, but I told them to let you sleep. Did something good happened?\" , Thank you, Hope. Because you did that I managed to get one step closer in becoming a druid.\" I then told her what happened to me in the game and what am I supposed to do next. , Hm, that sounds boring, I certainly won''t become a druid.\" , Well even if you want to, you won''t have an opportunity. There are almost no druids in towns according to my teacher. Players will need to go into the forests to search for instructors.\" , Realy? Well, that is one more reason not to be a druid. But, brother there is something I don''t understand. You are still not level 10. How can you already get a class? In other games you need to reach level 10 to get a class, my friends all said that.\" , Well, I have only one explanation. In Age of Gods, it appears that you don''t need to reach a certain level to gain a class. If you find an instructor that will teach you even being level 1 or 0, is not an issue to gain a class. So what class are you interested in. We still don''t know what classes are available, but you should have some idea right?\" , I want to have many pets!\" she said loudly. , A hunter then. Understandable you would choose that.\" For all her strengths, Hope has one weakness. And that weakness is animals. Cute animals, scary animals, animals of any kind. We had one pet dog as kids and I remember how sad Hope was when it died. Since then mom and dad haven''t brought any animals home. Hope always wanted to have many pets and playing this game will make that wish a reality. , Well then, big brother will help you to have as many pets as possible. But let me remind you, in this game, there is no inventory so I doubt there will be separate space for pets. They will probably be with you all the time in the game so you will need to look after them at all times.\" , Even better.\" she said with a big smile. Ha, I should not worry about her. She always finds positive things in any kind of situation. We then went downstairs into the dining room for lunch. Dad and mom didn''t ask me too much about why I didn''t wake up sooner. Since they were already in bed when I arrived home yesterday, they just asked me how was my date and when will I bring Maria home. I said that I will see. After lunch, I went back into the game to continue my meditation. I reappeared at the same place in the sitting position in front of the big tree. My first try at meditation didn''t pass very well so I decided to just chill out a little. I lied down and listened to the voices of the forest. I should try to hear forest more and then start with meditation. Grass, trees, leaves, flowers, animals, everything in the forest has its own voice. I listened for a while and then started to meditate. I sat like before. I crossed my legs and leaned onto the tree. I closed my eyes and tried to feel the energy of the forest. I was sitting there for a couple of hours, as long as I can tell. For that time I only got sore but so far. Veran was right. It won''t be easy to feel nature''s energy. Even though nature is all around me. Since I haven''t made any notable progress I decided to go for a little walk. After a short walk, I returned back to my meditation spot. I ate a little to sate my hunger and returned to meditation. All day passed like that. I didn''t have much success. I wonder how much time I will need to finally feel the energy of nature. I shouldn''t rush, I guess. When the time is right I will be ready. When I returned back Veran asked me did I make any progress. When I told him that I haven''t he said that I should be patient. , How long did you take to feel nature''s energy?\" I asked him. , I don''t remember. Its been a long time.\" he said with a face full of reminiscence. , How old are you exactly teacher?\" I couldn''t help but ask him. I think I saw him smile. Whether it was because of question or because I called him teacher, I don''t know, either way, he did answer to my question. , Hmm if I remember correctly this is my 163rd fall since I was born.\" having seen my blown away expression he continued, haha you think I am old? Some of my brothers lived twice as I so far. I don''t even know how old my teacher is. We druids my live long, but that is as long as we stay in our own territories. That is maybe one of the reasons we do not exit our forests.\" 163 years old. And there are even older druids. I would sure like to meet some of them. With that said Veran asked me for a dinner. We eat some sour fruits and I shared some of the apples I had left. I remembered the jerky I had left and I asked Veran do druids eat meat. With all that nature staff I wasn''t sure. He just smiled and said that druids live in balance with nature and use everything they need from it but nothing more, including meat. Sunday came and after I finished my preparation for classes next week I went back into the game. Two to three hours into meditation, just when I thought that I grasped something a notification appeared in front of me. , Region announcement A player ????????? reached level 10, opening the carriage system. Carriages will arrive on Mondays at every beginner village and will leave on Tuesdays. Only players that reached level 9 will be eligible to ride on them. New carriages will arrive on next Mondays. A trip to the town will be from 8 to 10 days depending on the distance from villages to towns. A player ????????? has gained 100 fame and 10 silver coins from God Horz for being first to reach level 10, let''s congratulate him.\" Someone already reached level 10. That guy must be real leveling fanatic. Before I could continue my meditation a call came. It was Wolf. What does he want now? I agreed to the call and heard his voice. , Haha, have you seen it? Haha, I am the best there is. Why are the two of you still level 9? With this, that bet is mine for sure.\" I saw that Marco is also here. At first, we were wondering what is he talking about, but when we saw a number 10 beside his name on the chat option we were both shocked. , That was you?\" We asked at the same time. Who would have thought that Wolf would be the first in our region to reach level 10. , Haha, are you jealous? Do you see my might?\" he laughed and asked. , There is no one mightier than you Wolf.\" I said. , And we are not jealous.\" responded Marco, but I could hear that he was, a little. , Don''t mind that now.\" I said, is there anything different now that you are level 10. He returned to his serious mode and answered. , There is one thing. It seems that from level 11 onwards we will be getting 10 more usable stat points.\" , Realy, that is a good thing right?\" asked Marco. , It should be. But even if that will make us stronger Boss monsters are still very hard for solo players to kill.\" I said. , You didn''t let me finish. Those 10 points can be only used for class specific attributes.\" with that Wolf finished his explanation. . Well, it doesn''t matter. It''s on to the players to distribute their attributes in the end.\" We talked for some time and then we continued what we were doing. I returned to meditation. This day also didn''t bear any fruit and I returned to Veran with a downcast expression. , Don''t be down. All it takes is time.\" he said. , Is my intelligence low for this?\" I had some suspicions so I wanted to be sure. , Haha your intelligence doesn''t have anything with it. If I had to say something it has to do with your body. You must feel that energy with your body so you can harness it later. That is the only way to become a druid.\" , Okay.\" I said and then logged out. I guess I was overthinking it. I should take my time. At work, I talked to Maria and Anna about their plans for the future. Both of them managed to reach level 9 and Hope and Mia are also close. , The two of them should reach level 9 by tomorrow so we will probably ride the carriage to the town.\" said Maria and Anna nodded her head in approval. , Very nice.\" I said, tell me to which town you are going when you find out.\" , What about you, professor?\" asked Anna, how are you doing so far? Have you managed to gain a class yet?\" I told them that it is taking longer than I thought and recounted my days so far. They encouraged me and said that I should take it easy. And maybe I should. There is no point in hurrying this process. Just like I managed to hear nature, feeling it will come as well in due time. Back at home, I continued with meditation. To somehow get used to it I also meditated in my room outside the game. As I let go of the pressure of finishing this task as fast as I can, during the next few days in the game I walked around the forest and meditated. My effort finally paid off three days later, on Thursday, when I finally managed to feel nature''s energy. 29 Becoming a druid I was surprised at first when I heard a notification in my ears but then I started jumping around the forest. I guess I was that happy. I looked at my skill page and another surprise welcomed me. I was so preoccupied with meditation that I didn''t even see that I had one more skill. That skill, I got from the first part of my learning to become a druid. Two skills were as follows. Nature''s Call Passive Skill Level 0 15% Bigger perception in the natural environment, very small chance to detect creatures under Stealth, a small chance that wild beasts won''t attack you. Nature''s Blessing Passive Skill Allows the user to wield the power of Nature. Intelligence +20 +5 Intelligence for every nature related skill learned Are these skills OP or not. Well, I guess every druid will have the same skills. But these two skills are amazing nonetheless. Now I should go to Veran and begin my last task. Veran was expecting me like last time. How did he know that I succeeded? To find that out I asked him. , How did I knew you succeeded? Haha, easy. When you didn''t return that night to sleep here I knew you had a breakthrough. This time, however, I can fell Nature''s energy from your body. Even though it''s still weak. But with time it will grow within you. The best way for that is using it over and over again. And that is also what you should do now. Utilizing that energy.\" , How should I do that?\" , By using skills, of course. There are some skills that I can show and then you can use them yourself. The first time you cast one skill, you will officially become Priest of Veles.\" , What are you waiting then? Quick show me.\" , Don''t rush. There are a few things you need to know first. The skills you can use now are limited. You can cast only low-level spells now. But tell me this first. Have you thought about what kind of druid you wish to become?\" , Not really. What kinds of druids are there at all?\" , Listen carefully. There are three regular types of druids. Most of the druids are proficient in one of these types, but there are some who are proficient in two of them. Druids who are well versed in all three druidic disciplines are rare though. My teacher is one of those by the way. These three disciplines are Nature Protectors druids, Shapeshifting druids and Rejuvenation druids. I belong to Nature protectors and we are the ones who mainly stay in the forests and protect them. We are skilled in all kinds of spells which are utilizing energy in forests. Me living together with a tree is a very advanced skill which Nature protectors can use. We can also control trees but you are far from that. Shapeshifting druids can change their forms into those of animals. Some experienced shapeshifters can even change into mythical creatures. They don''t stay in the same place, because their nature is one of the nomads. But shapeshifting is maybe the hardest and for sure the most dangerous of all druidic disciplines. Some of them are in animals skin for too long and can forget that they are humans or they can go rabid on some occasions. Rejuvenation druids are most proficient in healing techniques. Their healing techniques can rival those of priestesses of Vesna. They are the ones who are most welcome to human settlements. And their skills are easiest and fastest to learn. But there are no druids which know skills from only one discipline. I am Nature Protector but I still know several skills from other two disciplines. So what do you think? Which discipline is close to you?\" , Do I have to choose now?\" I asked. I didn''t think that I will already need to choose a specialization. , You do not need to choose at all. If you want you can try and learn skills from all three disciplines, but that is very hard. That is why druids concentrate on one or two. . What do you think I should do?\" Veran is an experienced druid. He should give me good advice. , I don''t know, this decision is on you. But you don''t need to make it yet. Some skills are required for other druids to show you how is done. Shapeshifting must be learned alone. Not even best shapeshifter druids can help you with that. I as a Nature Protector would recommend you to choose that also. Other druids would recommend their disciplines. In our druidic circles, those who mainly practice one discipline think that their path is the best. That is why we are thinking of shapeshifters as wild and healers as prideful. On the other hand, they are calling us loners. It is on you to choose in the end. But let me teach you some skills first.\" Putting all that in the back of my head I concentrated on learning skills which Veran showed me. I could only learn two skills because my level was not high enough. Veran explained that as not being strong and learned enough for more skills. As soon as I learned first skill Veran tapped my shoulder in approval. , Now you have become a beginner druid. To. become a full-fledged druid you must learn one skill from each of the disciplines. Young disciple, I welcome you into the ranks of Priests of the Velen.'''' , Thank you, teacher.'''' I said with great respect and notification appeared in front of me. , Congratulations for a class change. You have become beginner druid. You are third beginner druid in the world. Rewards await the one who first becomes a druid. Druids walk the path of Nature. They are knowledgeable and determined.'''' Wow, I became third beginner druid in the world. There is even a chance for me to become the first full-fledged druid in the world, among the players. I think that only Europa region has druids, but still, first in the world is a thing to strive for. I looked at my stat page and saw that Beginner Druid was there in big letters. There was also a short description of the class, which I skipped over. The thing I wanted to see the most was my first class skill. Since Veran was Nature Protector the first skill he teched me was a skill from that discipline. That skill is Ensnaring Roots. Ensnaring Roots is a skill for traping your opponent into a place with the tree roots from the ground. Its duration is not that long, only 2.5 seconds. But Veran told me that if I use the skill a lot in the future the duration will get longer, and even trap more enemies at the same time. This fact made me realize the potential of this skill. If I level it up in the future this low-level skill will be great control AOE skill. The next skill I learned was the Healing Touch. This is a very simple instant cast healing spell that can heal the target for a fixed amount of health. Over time it can also grow and heal for more. These two skills made me a lot stronger. One can control my enemies and with the other, I can heal myself or my allies. If I had one attacking skill I would be even stronger. But for now, these two skills are good enough. The only thing I needed to do and become full-fledged druid is to learn a shapeshifting skill. But that is a lot harder than learning the other two skills together. According to Veran the only way to learn shapeshifting is to observe animals. There is no shortcut in this. He said that Druid can shapeshift in all animals possible if he had observed all of them. There is no limit which form can shapeshift Druid take. The only limit is the ability to observe animals and time which would take. I need to find an animal to observe if I want to take its form. , If you want to take a shape of an animal you have to understand it 100%. Some are easier to observe and understand while others are hard to find and figure out. There is a way for a Druid to be sure to observe an animal but it could be dangerous later. Let me show you how shapeshifting looks.\" Before I could ask him what that way is, Veran started changing right in front of me. He gradually became smaller and furrier. I looked in shock as he got smaller and smaller and in but a moment a squirrel appeared in front of me. If I didn''t know that this was a game I would think I was seeing things. , So what do you think?\" Veran in the form of a squirrel talked. Even though I understood him, his voice did change a little. , This is my third animal form. I learned it while I was fused into a tree early on. I didn''t have much chance to use it so I used it now.\" He said that and started climbing the tree. He climbed so fast I almost couldn''t see him. He then started going from tree to tree. He was no different from a regular squirrel. He then came back down and turned back. , When you learn an animal form you can stay in it as long as you want. There are no restrictions if you managed to understand said animal 100%. But remember, if you stay in one animal form for too long you may start and lose yourself over to the spirit of the animal. Nature is calm and peaceful, but it can also be rough and vengeful, especially to those who harm it. But even we druids must know when to stop using her gifts or else we feel her wrath.\" , I will remember that teacher.\" I said with great respect and a little fear. , You won''t need to call me teacher when you become a real druid. You can call me Treegrower, as that is the name my brothers gave me. Rest now and tomorrow try and find an animal to observe.\" , Ok, teacher.\" I wanted to ask him about that sure way but decided against it. If he thought I could do it he would have told me how. Next day I shared my success in obtaining a class with Hope at home, and with Maria and Anna at work. They congratulated me and asked about details. I told them and then asked them how is the trip to the town going. They said that they can hunt during the trip when carriage stops for a break or if it gets attacked. Until they arrive in the town they should reach level 10. But it seems that the town they are going to is different from the one Wolf, Marco and I are going. Good thing is that these two towns are relatively close to each other, so sooner or later we will find each other in the game. I told them to be careful. I arranged another date with Maria on Sunday and left work with a smile. When I returned home I talked with Wolf and Marco a little. I told them that I obtained the class and that I will be on my way soon. That bet is lost for sure. Now I just wanted to see who will be first to arrive in the town, Marco or Wolf. If we didn''t take time for other things we may have already arrived. I was busy getting a class, while Wolf was busy hunting. I am not sure what was Marco doing, but if he arrived he would already say. And he did say indeed. While I was observing an animal in the forest the next day, by the end of it Marco sent us a message that we owe him 10 silvers each. 30 First animal form and first... When Marco arrived into the town, I was at the end of my first day of observing the animal I decided to use as my first animal form. It was hard to make a choice. Most of the players who choose druid as their class would want to transform into a bear, a wolf, even a tiger or a lion if they can find one. Eagle or a hawk, or any other bird are also preferable choices. But, finding those creatures and observing them for a long time is what it makes it a hard task. My first choice was a bird. Any kind of a bird would be good. But since they spend most of the time in the air, I concluded that they are harder to observe then land animals. So I found myself in a dilemma. To go deeper into the woods and try to find wolves, and risk getting attacked. Or do I observe some easy to see animals in the vicinity of Veran''s territory? In the end, I decided that safe choice is the best choice for now. Now, I just need to decide what animal to observe. The reason for wanting a bird to be my first animal form is a fast traveling speed. I was already behind Marco and Wolf, and I didn''t want to get behind other players. At first, I thought that I should observe squirrels like Veran, but decided against it. I wanted a form with some fighting power and squirrels are for sure not the right choice for that. Not that sometime later I won''t have a squirrel form. After some deliberation with myself, I made a decision and went to Veran to ask him. , Veran are there any deer in this part of the forest?\" , So that is your choice for the first form. A good choice indeed. A lot of our brothers from all disciplines choose a stag as one of their animal forms. There are deer south from here. In fact, that territory belongs to them. One Great Stag leads a herd over a hundred deer. Not even feral animals dare enter that part of the forest. You must also be careful not to provoke them. But since you are also part of nature now, they shouldn''t attack you for no reason.\" After Veran''s advice, I went south to try and find that big herd of deer. If nothing goes wrong I should be able to gain my first animal form very soon. I quickly passed the border of Veran''s territory and entered the territory of the Great Stag, as Veran called him. I didn''t want to wonder too much into it so I moved on the edge of it, hoping that I would find some of them. An hour later and no deer in sight, I remembered that small herd I encountered before and moved towards the river. At one point they would need to drink water and the closest source is this river. I should wait for them at the border, a hundred member herd should be easy to spot. And I was right. Not long after I found a good spot to sit down, I could hear a noise coming from the forest. It was getting louder and soon enough, the whole herd arrived at the river bank. With that, I started my observation. I could see stags, does and fawns drinking water from the river, with no worries at all. This being their territory and all, it is quite normal, I thought. I was wondering which stag is the leader but none of them looked the part. They were all the same size and I thought that the leader should be bigger than others. I didn''t get preoccupied with that because I was concentrating to observe them as much as possible. I watched as they drank water but I couldn''t see that restlessness like from the ones I saw before. The stags were turning their head all around looking for danger. But this herd appeared like they didn''t have a natural predator. Veran was right, this part of the forest is their territory. When they finished with drinking water they moved back into the forest. I went after them. I was careful not to get noticed. It would be easy for them to misunderstand my intentions. I moved against the wind because I knew that the wind can move the smell with it, and animals all had a better sense of smell than humans. They stopped from time to time, either to rest or to eat grass and leaves from small trees. I used every opportunity to observe them. I looked at every motion and action they did. When they stopped to eat I ate with them and when they walked I walked with them. I ate some sour fruits Veran gave me. That boar jerky is all gone by now. Since I had it, I shared it with Veran. I even tried to eat grass and leaves like deer, but after few tries, I gave up. I couldn''t eat as many as one deer could. It looked like they ate a small amount of it but when you count how many times they ate, it appears a lot. I was watching them at night too. I only logged out to have breakfast and then got back into the game. During the night time, they were sleeping so it was easier to observe them. But I still had to be careful so I didn''t move too close to them. I was a hundred meters or so away from them. The only thing I heard was their breathing and wind moving the branches of the trees. There were still some stags that were keeping watch but they didn''t move to away from the rest of the herd. Whole night passed like that. I only took some fruits to eat in the game and left for a half an hour to get a real lunch. With the sun coming out herd got up one after another. Frist stags, then does and fawns. I had one more day to observe them before my date with Maria so I wanted to use my time as much as I could. And this morning the Great Stag finally appeared. Just describing him as great is an understatement. He was almost double the size of the other stags. His fur was colored red and then as he moved into the sunshine it changed to brown. It was almost blinding looking at his glossy fur. His horns were tree meters big. They were the biggest so far I could see from a deer. No wonder he was the leader of this big herd. I used my Appraisal on him but it didn''t work. I used it yesterday to see what level are others. Young ones were Level 10 and does were between level 15 and 20. Other stags were between level 20 and 25 and couple of them were a few levels higher. At first, I was surprised that their levels were higher than the levels of the Rage Beasts and Rage Nightmare I encountered in the beginner village. But since this herd didn''t have any natural enemies and were growing without any interference I suppose that is normal. I was very curious what level is the leader so I tried a couple more times. Using Appraisal on the herd yesterday I managed to raise my skill more than 30%. Using it on the leader should give me at least 5%, I thought. But after one try Great Stag sensed me. He couldn''s see me because I hid very carefully but he sensed that I was looking at him. I didn''t want to enrage him so I stopped and moved away a little. As I watched and observed them I tried to use Appraisal on the leader but it failed almost ten times. I even used it in a half an hour interval in fear of being found out. I head a feeling that as soon as I found out more about the leader, my understanding of deer will raise by a big margin or even reach 100%. Until it was time for me to get ready for my date with Maria I was watching their every step and action. Even during our date, the only thing I did was looking at her. That made her feel a little uncomfortable so she asked me why am I looking at her like that. , Do I have something on my face? You almost didn''t say a thing tonight?\" I couldn''t say that all that observing from the game rubbed into reality, could I? So I responded the best I could in that situation. , You are too beautiful. I can''t stop looking at you.\" I know it sounds corny but that is the best I could do at the moment and not to blab out that I got it from the game. To be fair I was looking at her every time we were together on dates. It just happens that tonight I didn''t talk too much but concentrated on observing. She smiled at me sweetly and her cheeks got a little red. Seeing her like that I had to say it again. , How can I stop looking at you when you are beautiful at whatever you do.\" , Huh, you wouldn''t say that if you saw me in the morning with my hair all messed up.\" , I would like to see you then, only to say that you are beautiful and prove you wrong.\" It took me a moment to figure out what I said and a moment of silence followed. Then we looked at each other and our eyes met. I could see that her cheeks got even redder but she didn''t move her eyes away from mine. , You will have to wait for that a little.\" she said and looked at me with a mischievous smile. I was surprised when she said that and didn''t know how to respond. I bet that I was redder than her at that moment from embarrassment. She noticed that and laughed again. I got myself together and asked for a bill. I paid and we left the restaurant. I walked her to her place and before she entered I said. , I will wait, as long as you want.\" I don''t know where that came from but I thought that I didn''t give her an answer she wanted while we were at the restaurant. She turned around, surprise written all over her beautiful face. She hugged me and I could hear her faintly say, thank you. I took her hands and we looked each other in the eyes. What happened then I will remember for the rest of my life. Our lips met and we kissed. I melted from that feeling. Our lips intervened. It felt like an eternity passed at that moment. We separated and looked at each other again. I then remembered and my eyes moved in the direction of the window above us with a little fear. Maria saw that and with a smile said. , Don''t worry. I said to dad not to look anymore outside.\" , It doesn''t matter, it doesn''t matter.\" I said in a hurry trying to make myself look brave again. She smiled and gave me one more quick kiss and ran into her house. I thought I heard Mia behind the door but I was too preoccupied remembering the taste and the shape of Maria''s lips to think about anything else. During the whole way back home I was thinking about that moment. When I got back home mom, dad and Hope were looking at me, all with big smiles on their faces. Mia already talked to Hope I see. And Hope already told our parents. After the grand inquisition that lasted almost a whole hour, I went back into the game. I don''t know if it is a coincidence but after every date with Maria, I had some kind of a breakthrough in the game. She truly is my lucky star. After long three days of observation and stalking of the deer, I managed to appraise the Great Stag. As soon as I did a notification appeared. , Congratulations, you managed to observe the deer to 100% completion. Your reward is transformation skill Great Stag Form. Congratulations, you are a first druid to learn a transformation skill in the world. You became the first real druid player. Rewards are as followed...\" 31 Town in sigh , Congratulations, you are a first Druid to learn a transformation skill in the world. You became the first real druid player. Rewards are as followed. Gained 50 Fame, 10 Luck, and 10 Fate. The titles \"Frist Druid\" and \"Veles''s Servant\" gained.\" Wow, I couldn''t even imagine that I would gain this much for being the first one to become a Druid. Fame, Luck, and Fate were raised like that time when I gained the First Believer title. And I also gained two new titles. I took a look and checked them and my new skill Great Stag Form. Great Stag Form Transformation skill Level 0 1% Transform into the great stag. 5-second cast Duration unlimited. Bares the risk of losing oneself to the animal form if too long in it. First Druid All nature-related skills have 20% increase effect. Veles''s Servant When praying to Veles effects are doubled. Even though the explanation of the titles is short their effects are more than fantastic. 20% increase effect in all nature skills and double effects from praying to Veles would make any Druid player jealous. It is a good thing that there is no region or world announcement about that. I may be the first Druid in the game, but I am certain that somewhere in the world there are already players who managed to get another class. But what made me curious the most was the transformation skill. Unlimited duration and the risk I could somehow get. But if there is no fixed duration for transformation what is the point of having a level for the skill. I should ask Veran when I go back. During the way back I opened the chat option and called Marco and Wolf. I had to brag to them a little after all. , What, you are already a Druid?\" asked me, Wolf. I could hear the shock in his voice. Marco didn''t say anything, he too couldn''t believe it. , Just now I became a real Druid. Who cares now if I arrived first into the town. We should have bet on who will get a class first.\" , You would win that bet.\" said Marco, Who would have thought that you could find a Druid instructor in the forest even before reaching the town first.\" , Well, if I have reached the town first I couldn''t have. You should also try and get a class soon. Wolf are you near the town? Marco, are there other players there?\" , I wanted to surprise you later but you were the one who surprised us. I arrived this morning and I am trying to get my class now. Marco will tell you other things.\" Then Marco continued. , I am also trying to get my class I should be able to do it by tomorrow if there are no big obstacles. So far Wolf and I are the only players in the town. Or we didn''t see anyone yet. The town is six to seven times bigger then the beginner village, even I haven''t seen everything in it yet. When will you arrive?\" , I will continue tomorrow my journey to the town. I think that two to three day should be enough for me to arrive.\" , Excellent. I should get my class by then and Marco will look around the town for the quests. You hurry as fast as you can. Finally, we are going to be together in the game.\" said Wolf. , Don''t worry, I will travel as fast as I can. We will see each other in a couple more days.\" We then closed the chat and I continued on my way to Veran''s home. I was also anxious about the three of us finally getting to play together. For ten years that was our dream and now it will come to life. I wanted to hurry even a little bit and so I shapeshifted into the Great Stag form. I couldn''t see how I looked but in those 5 seconds, I felt my body structure changes. My face got longer, and my hands and legs now felt the same. My field of sight was even higher. Maybe around two meters in height. In this form, I was higher than in my human form. I can''t say that I saw farther than usual but I could hear more and smell more. I looked down and saw two long firm legs in fur which ended with hoofs. My head felt heavy at first but after a few moments, I got used to the filling. I guess that the horns I had are very large. I made a small detour to the river to see my new form. What I saw in the reflection of the water surface, could be described as Great Stags clone. I am a little smaller then he is in this form and my fur didn''t change color that much and it was even darker a little. Otherwise, there were no visible differences. I arrived at Veran''s place faster then I would in my human form. I am four or five times faster in this form. My journey to the town should be short thanks to this form. I released transformation in the vicinity of Veran''s house. Too much in animal form is a great risk according to skill explanation and Veran''s words. Since I just acquired it I shouldn''t use it for a long time. , Come up.\" Veran''s voice echoed through the forest. I listened to him and climbed up. He was waiting for me with ready chairs and a table with some sour fruits on it. I sat down and took some to sate my hunger. I was more tired than I thought. Maybe all that excitement masked my hunger. Veran waited for me to finish and then congratulated me. , Your friends have a good naming sense. Wise Raven indeed. This name suits you now more than ever. I must say that you are one of the fastest who managed to become a Druid among our brothers. Now you are a real Druid and a servant of Veles. Your main task as such is to maintain balance in Nature. I know that you are going to leave soon but know that you can come back here anytime. There are some skills that you can learn by yourself but also some that you will need guidance. You will know yourself when is the time to learn new skills.\" , Thank you, teacher.\" I said with respect. , You are also one of my brothers now\", he said with a chuckle, you can call me Treegrower like the others.\" , Then Master Treegrower.\" I said and bowed slightly. After all, Veran is the one who taught me how to become a Druid. I should show him the respect he deserves. , Haha, you may be my only disciple so far, but you are the best disciple a teacher can wish for. I can only hope that if some other traveler wonders into my part of the forest and wishes to learn our techniques they would be half as good as you are.\" , Master Treegrower I have some questions that I wish to ask you?\" , Ask away my disciple.\" , How come that even if I can transform for as long as I want I feel that I can improve my shapeshifting more in the future?\" , So you felt that. I am not well versed in shapeshifting but I can tell you what some of our wild brothers told me about animal forms. Some animal forms can''t be improved while some can. To be specific you can''t improve forms per se, but you can start and use some techniques or skills in those forms. You will feel yourself when one of your animal forms is suited to gain a skill. Those skills can be used for combat, scouting or some other things. That depends on the form. I gained one such skill in my bird form.\" , Then master what is the easier way to observe an animal? You mentioned that later it can be dangerous.\" , I did mention that.\" said Veran with a frown. , I guess I should tell either way. The easier way is for you to have an animal by your side. An animal companion if you like.\" Animal companion? I was a little confused. , Like the ones hunters have?\" , Not exactly. Hunters are also attuned to nature a little so they have an easier time in taming beasts. But there is one crucial difference. When hunters pets come to harm, if they are injured or die, hunters, themselves won''t come to harm. But in our case it is different. We druids make a bond with our companions. Some call it Soul Bond. Whenever your animal companion comes to harm so will you. The opposite is also true. In some way, you will share the same life force. There are few Druids who have an animal companion of their own, but they still exist.\" Animal companion for druids, Soul Bond. I did not expect this. If my deductions are right since we players can''t truly die in the game the same should apply to hunter pets or druids animal companions. The difference should be in losses one suffers when one dies. If hunters pet dies only the pet should lose some EXP and skill proficiencies. But for druids, if a companion dies, in the worst case druids also dies, in the best, he losses EXP and skill proficiency. The same applies to a companion if a druid dies. Having a companion is a double-edged sword. I should think very carefully if having an animal companion is a good thing. Veran saw that I was lost in thought so he said one more thing. , Having a Soul Bond with an animal is certainly dangerous, but I do know one benefit it brings.\" , Really?\" I lifted my head and asked him. , When hunters give directions to their pets they must give verbal orders. But druids don''t have to.\" , What do you mean?\" I asked and waited for the grand reveal. , A druid and his companion can communicate with their minds. There is no need for words. That is very useful, especially in fights.\" , Telepathy?\" I asked with astonishment. , You can call it like that. Soul Bond is more them sharing life force. Sharing thoughts is also possible.\" At one moment Veran makes me give up on finding an animal companion and then at other he encourages me to do that. It''s like he likes to see me in a dilemma. , Don''t think much about it. Rest now, you will need enough energy for tomorrow.\" With that, he went to his room. I lied down and logged out of the game. At school, I told Maria, Anna and Nick who pestered Anna less than usual, that I got myself a class. They were all surprised. Maria smiled at me and said, \" I knew you can do it\". Anna just said \"Wow\" and clapped like a little girl. No wonder everyone likes her. She really looks like everyone''s little sister. Even Nick said \"Good job\". I was surprised a little, but not that much. Nick may appear like a tough guy but overall he is a good person. I mean, he wouldn''t be a teacher if he wasn''t. To work with children you, yourself need to be a good human. That is how mom and dad raised me after all. It seems that Nick is also headed to the same town the girls are going to. I asked him to look after them and he pompously said that with him there will be no problems. Well, his pride is maybe bigger than of other people. What can you do? In the game, I said goodbye to Veran and said that I will come back in the future. I traveled through the forest for the next few days. I also managed to reach level 10 because I hunted some undead animals when I passed Great Stags territory. Good thing that on this side of the river there were no forest demons. I knew that because undead animals were all bones. That means they were like that for a long time. I put 10 points in endurance because I wanted to raise my health a little. A notification also appeared about ten more class points after level 10. For druids, half of those points must go into intelligence and other five can be freely distributed between endurance and agility. After three days of traveling on two and sometimes four legs, I reached a stone bridge which brought two banks of the river together. I made my first step on it and in my sight appeared Little Fort town. I finally made it. 32 The first quest of the Neerdy Trio , I have arrived.\" I sent a message to Marco and Wolf as I was crossing the stone bridge. , Excellent.\" Wolf exclaimed. , Where are you exactly?\" asked Marco. , I am crossing the bridge.\" , We are waiting for you at the Big gate.\" Marco said. , I will be there shortly.\" I responded and looked at the town in front of me. Name Little Fort was certainly an appropriate one. Little Fort town was made in a very easily defended place, hence the fort in the name. The town was literally inlayed into the mountain on one part. Other sides of the town, north, south, and east were well guarded. The big gate which was mentioned by Marco earlier was looking to the east, turned towards the river. North and south gates were smaller and were made to connect mountainous path which merchants used for their travels. According to Marco and Wolf, you could pass one of those gates, enter the town, exit through the other gate and continue on your way. I wanted to explore the town myself but we didn''t have time to lose. Other players are also arriving at the town quickly as they can. Now I could already see the town in front of me. Stone walls were all around it. Part of it was made from the mountain itself. The big gate was almost 10 meters wide and on both sides were two big stone towers. I could see archers on them looking on guard. On the walls, there were also guards moving left and right. In front of the big gate stood two figures. They were both wearing leather armor, one had a bow over his shoulder and two quivers of arrows on his belt. The other one had a big battleax behind his back, which looked like it could slice even stone in half. Of course, those figures were Marco and Wolf. I stopped in front of them and we looked at each other. We couldn''t contain our excitement so we laughed like lunatics and hugged each other. We can finally play together. , Champion you made us wait.\" said Wolf with a big smile. , Ten slivers.\" said Marco trying to be as straightfaced as possible. I followed his act and begrudgingly took 10 silvers from my leather pouch. I moved my hand so slowly that Wolf couldn''t contain his laughter anymore. He started laughing again and so did I after handing Marco the coins. He also managed to keep straight face until he put the coins into his pouch. All the guards looked at us like we are some idiots that were laughing to who knows what at the town gate. After we had our fill of laughing we all put our game faces on. , Are we ready?\" I asked them. , We are all ready. Are you good to go? Do you need something from the town?\" asked Wolf. , I am ready. We can move now.\" , Excellent, follow me.\" said Marco and entered through the gate into the town. We moved through the Little Fort town and I used this time to look around and familiarize a little. We will be here for some time so knowing the place will benefit in the long run. The town is divided into four parts. The Central District which is next to the mountain. Resident District which is placed at the south part of the town. The Trading district is in the north part. And Adventurers District is placed on the east side where the Big Gate is. Central District was the smallest but it was the most important part of the town. In it, there were two big temples carved into the mountain one by the other. One is dedicated to the Ruler of Gods, God of Thunder and Lightning, Perun, and the other to the Sun God, Horz. To be more specific it is dedicated to his blacksmith persona. The mountains around the town are full of ores and a lot of blacksmiths settled in this town, bringing their faith in Horz with them. Some other buildings were Elder Assembly, a big wooden old building where elders of the town got together to talk about town matters. There were also Guild Asociation building and Mercenary Hall. Those buildings were for establishing Guilds and mercenary bands and taking quests. Resident District was the biggest of all as it housed all the townsfolk. Marco and Wolf said that the biggest crowd happens in the morning when all the townsfolk go to their jobs and businesses. The Trading district was full of smithies as the town protector was Horz. According to Wolf who took blacksmithing class, almost every fifth shop in the Trading District was a smithy. Other shops were tailor shops, butcher shops, bakeries, and vegetable and fruit shops. In some secluded places, there were few herbalist shops and even one alchemist shop was there. Almost everything one needed for daily life could be found in the Trading District. Adventurers District was full with taverns where players could sleep and find a meal for a day. There were also Warriors Abode and Hunters Cottage. This is where Wolf and Marco did they class change quest. Where are buildings for other classes? Are there other classes at all in the game aside this two, someone would ask. Well since I am a Druid there are certainly more classes. Where are they and how to find them will be on other players. Three of us don''t have that kind of a problem anymore. In this part of the town was also Guard House. Guard House was not far from the Big gate, and if any disputes happen guards will arrive quickly. Where is the prison for offenders? I do not want to now that. We were moving through the Resident District. Small children were playing around while their mothers were watching after them. Seeing the number of children made me realize how much bigger the town is, in comparison to the beginner village. We exited the town from the south gate and started moving southeast. , Where are we going?\" I asked them. , We have a quest.\" said Wolf. , Quest? What kind of quest?\" I asked back. , Pest control.\" said Marco and shared a quest with me. \" Pest control Help the townsfolk of the Little Fort to clear their fields of pests. Bring 20 rat tails as proof. Repeatable quest Reward 1000 EXP and 1 Little Fort reputation point.\" I looked at the quest and couldn''t believe it. I thought that when I made it to the town we were going to hunt some monsters or bandits, but rats? , Guys are you serious?\" I thought that they are joking. Wolf laughed helplessly and Marco gave me an explanation. , We are serious. While Wolf was getting his class, I was running around the town to find as many quests as possible. Do you know how many I found? Only one, Pest control. I managed to find one town elder who gave me this quest. It is repeatable and shareable so you two didn''t need to find him.\" , Other players are going to get a good surprise as well.\" laughed Wolf. , That means that only this one quest is available for now. since more players will arrive by tomorrow we must kill as many rats as we can today and find another quest. Otherwise, we will not be swarmed with rats but with other players.\" I said. , You are right, said Marco, lets hurry.\" With that in mind, we hurried along the road. I remembered my first quest at beginner village about farming in the fields. Do game developers have some weird obsession with farming? Is that why they made the first quest in both beginner village and town about farming fields. While we were going to the fields we familiarized with the skills we each have. Of course, as soon as two of them heard I can shapeshift into a Stag they neglected healing and rooting skills and demanded that I show them. What could I do? They are my best friends after all. When I transformed both of them looked in amazement. Wolf was looking at me from all sides. When he came behind me and wanted to look between hind legs I kicked out at him and immediately canceled my transformation. He was moved only a couple of steps and didn''t receive any damage. , Come on Champion, why are you like that. I only wanted to check if something was there.\" , Are you out of your mind. Even I didn''t look there. I don''t want to get scared for life. And knowing you everybody at the neighborhood would talk about it tomorrow.\" Everybody knows that Wolf is weak against his mother. Whatever she asked him he would speak the truth. And he tells her everything. Even what happens in the game, as I heard from Marco. His mom is the scariest mother in the neighborhood. She raised four boys, so no surprise there. Marco was standing there and laughing. Then he said. , Forget about that Wolf, let''s go. And remember. While we are in the game lets address each other by our character names.\" , Roger that, Eagle Eye.\" said Wolf and saluted. Now I couldn''t contain my laughter. You just can''t get angry at this guy. I also found out their skills. Like I did, they also learned three skills. It seems that three skills are the starting point for every player after changing classes. Not that you couldn''t learn other skills before that. My herbalist skills and others are a good example. The skills they learned were Steady Shot, Ensnare, and Tame for Eagle Eye and Charge, Slam and Onslaught for SuperWolf. Steady Shot deals a fixed amount of damage when one is not moving. Ensnare can stop opponent for a set duration of time but can''t stop them attacking. And Tame was signature Hunter skill for taming pets. The Charge is for arriving at the opponent''s position quickly stunning them in place. Slam hits an opponent for an increased amount of weapons damage. And Onslaught increases attack damage with each successive attack. But the effect quickly stops if Warrior is not actively attacking. Like I learned two skills before becoming a Druid two of them also learned two skills. For Eagle Eye, his first skill was the same as mine Nature''s Call. It makes sense since Hunters also spend most of their time in natural environments hunting wild animals. His second skill is Tracking. It helps him to track beast, monsters, and NPCs if necessary. SuperWolfs two skills were Weapon Training and Battle Rage. Weapon Training gives him an increase in speed with weapons he trained with. And Battle Rage has a chance to send Warriors in battle rage for every enemy hit they receive. It is a small chance but effect is very good with increased damage they can do. We quickly arrived at the fields. Even though Little Fort''s focus is on mining and blacksmithing, having their own source of food is equally important. The fields were of course even bigger than the ones at the beginner village. We started our job as soon as we arrived. For all three of us to clear the quest even once we needed to catch 60 rats. Until the next level, I needed a little less than 9000 EXP which means that I had to catch 180 rats. I guess that Eagle Eye and SuperWolf are at the same number more or less. So we had to catch somewhere around 550 rats by the end of the day. Are there even that many rats here? We looked at each other and could only try. Eagle Eye and I used our enhanced perception to try and find some rats. We managed to find less than 10 rats in our surroundings and quickly finished them off. By the lunchtime, we walked through the fields and found enough rats for three of us to clear quest three times. After we ate some provisions Eagle Eye prepared before we left the town, our progress slowed down. In the next three hours, we found 20 rats in total. We were wondering if we had to return tomorrow. But SuperWolfs annoyed and angry Slam hit the ground near our resting spot and opened a little hole. What we then encountered could only be described as earning experience in bulk. A swarm of rats exited the hole and almost buried us under them. Thank the Gods we were in the open fields and not in some uneven ground where you can trip and fall in to get swarmed by rats. But to be honest it was a great annoyance to kill those rats. We finally killed the last rat an hour before the sunset. Since we had killed so many rats Eagle Eye skinned them all. We could sell their skin if they are valuable or Eagle Eye could use them to practice his tailoring. Since we didn''t have any reserve bags to put the skins and tails into, SuperWolf ran to the town to see if he can find some. Eagle Eye continued with skinning and I tried to find some herbs and find some animal to observe aside from rats. SuperWolf got back with three big bags just to be sure and we went back to the town.