I’d killed a bear. With a sword. The come down from adrenaline was making me twitchy and giddy.
The crystals were growing out of the floor and ceiling, shone with inner light, and otherwise did nothing at all. Only the sphere bobbed in the air, at a really slow cadence. I tried to put a hand on it but it repelled me as if I’d been trying to bring two magnets together at the same pole.
Nothing else attacked me. Nothing else appeared.
The new thing I had from the whole experience was a big text box in my vision.
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONSTRUCT YOUR CLASS NOW?]
It blinked once every couple of seconds and it was annoying.
Now, I could do this thing, or I could go out and ask Eternity about it.
I wasn’t sure I liked the second option. Eternity had discussed with the rabbits and subsequently brought me to the fucking mechabear. I could still smell the sickly sweet scent of rot from the other room. It had nowhere to go so it lingered.
Unfortunately, the only way out seemed to be through the portal that had gotten me in. Nothing in this room suggested an exit, and the walls were smooth and absolutely featureless in any other spot where there weren’t crystals. I tried poking one of those with my sword and I got electrocuted for my effort.
“Right, then,” I growled as I sat down next to the door. I’ve never been a thinking-on-my-feet kind of guy, so now was the time to revert to old habits. “Let’s see here.”
How did one go about clicking on something in your own view? I tried waving my hand in the approximate area. Nothing happened.
“Uhhh, open skills?”
Nothing happened, again.
“Click skills.”
Nope. That did nothing.
I tried to imagine a cursor in my field of view, hovering over the word. And that did the trick. A huge menu popped open, taking up my entire sight. It was still there if I closed my eyes, so I tried to minimise it before it got my head pounding in pain.
Turns out, it was enough to just think on what I wanted to do and the interface would just do it. I played around with the idea a bit, opening my stats—nothing had changed there, with one notable exception.
[INSIGHT LEVEL: 1]
I focused on that and asked what it meant. Another popup showed up with explanatory text.
[RESTRICTION LEVEL 1 HAS BEEN LIFTED. YOU MAY NOW REQUEST BASIC FUNCTIONALITY INFORMATION RELATED TO: DUNGEONS / INTERFACE]
“Nice. What is a dungeon?” I asked, excited to finally get an answer.
[INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE WITHOUT SYNC WITH MAIN CONSCIOUSNESS]
I groaned. Useless. I assumed the main consciousness was the Eternity light blob that waited outside, but I wasn’t going to go out there without understanding what had happened. The word did lodge itself into my brain: consciousness. Not system. Not unit or any other term. I made a mental note of this.
Adrenaline had washed off me and I wasn’t ready to do any more fighting just yet. If nobody was going to come in here after me, it was the perfect time to plan and learn.
Maybe I could wait for nightfall and then sneak out? It was worth considering.
Moving away from the stats sheet, I opened up the menu for skills again. What opened was a five-petalled flower that gently rotated around a core that said, simply, “Klaus”. Each petal started with one word and then expanded out into a tree-like structure that was blurry to my view. The first words were [PHYSICAL], [MAGIC], [SURVIVAL], [TRAVERSAL], and [ALTERATION]. Their trees spanned off my field of view.
So far, so videogamey. Opening one of the petals centred it in my view and showed the entire tree, though again most of it was blurred. Only the first items were clear. I tested it out on the [PHYSICAL] tab and I could get from there several items like [SWORD APTITUDE], [AXE APTITUDE], [STAVE APTITUDE]. The list went on and on, as if it would feature any kind of weapon imaginable.
Magic was the same, except that here the list was absolutely obscene. [ELEMENTAL], [GRAVITY], [PERCEPTION], [CRYSTAL], [WARD], [LIGHT]. This one also went on and on. Focusing on one specific element opened another sub-tree, but everything was blurred out, like I wasn’t yet supposed to see any of them.
I was still too wired from the fight to really appreciate the idea of magic available in a menu running on my retina. I made a mental note to have a good gush over it later, when I’d be safe.
With nothing in the menus to offer context, I navigated back to the class construction prompt and focused on it.
I felt a shift in the world and it felt, somehow, like everything had slowed down. Several items appeared in front of me, four empty slots floating in mid-air.
[CLASS CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN]
[CHOOSE WISELY]
[A CONSTRUCTED CLASS CANNOT BE CHANGED]
[A CONSTRUCTED CLASS CAN ONLY BE UPGRADED]
[PLEASE SELECT YOUR AFFINITIES]
“I… don’t understand,” I said, more than a little peeved at the further lack of guidance.
To my surprise, however, another message popped up.
[YOUR CLASS WILL BE GENERATED BASED ON YOUR AFFINITY SELECTION]
[AN AFFINITY IS A SKILL LINE THAT YOU WISH TO PURSUE AND MASTER]
[CHOOSE WISELY]
Oh, that made much more sense. I stared at the four floating boxes and thought for a time. The first one came into focus, its outline glowing faintly golden.
I had a sword and I’d seen a sword aptitude skill in the list. It would make sense to gain something that helped me use the sword itself better.
As I wondered how to select the skill, [PHYSICAL][SWORD APTITUDE] slotted itself into the first floating box.
“Okay, now I get what you’re doing.”
I focused on the second slot and it lit up. I had no other weapon aside from the sword—and my fists, but I couldn’t throw a fist to save my life—so I opened the skill menu back up and headed to the [SURVIVAL] list.
Again, there was a whole list there that included [POISON RESISTANCE], [ELEMENTAL RESISTANCE], [DAMAGE MITIGATION], [MAGIC ABSORPTION] and a few others. My attention, however, snagged on the [DAMAGE MITIGATION] one. If I had to fight my way out, it would be good to be able to survive some damage. If I got stabbed by one of those spears, it wouldn’t do to just crumple on the ground and get stabbed several more times for good measure.
[SURVIVAL][DAMAGE MITIGATION] slotted into the second box.
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Next, I headed to the traversal skills. [ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERY], [CLIMBING MASTERY], [MOUNT MASTERY], [SWIMMING MASTERY], and a sleuth of other masteries. I saw the first one that I wanted from the very beginning. The first skill also came with a description.
[TRAVERSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT EASILY AND SAFELY]
[GAIN PROFICIENCY AT MOVING ACROSS DIFFICULT TERRAIN]
That wasn’t much to go on, but it still built into the idea that was forming in my head.
I admit—and I admitted to myself even then and there—that I was being paranoid. The more I thought on the day’s events and the whole fight with the bear, the less likely it seemed to me that the rabbits had actually wanted to get me killed. Eternity had said that they’d been waiting for me, or someone like me, to fix what was broken.
Killing that vine had cleared all the icky stuff from the room. It was reasonable to assume I had done exactly what was expected: fixed something broken. Or, in this case, weeded out a thorny vine.
With no common language, and absolutely no common sense on my part to ask about the dangers of the well, there would’ve been little chance for anyone to warn me. I’d sauntered up to the portal like a buffoon—exactly as I used to do for my job—and dove in without a question asked. It was likely they just thought I was competent enough to handle what waited for me.
I did have the sword. Now that I had a chance to allow myself to think, I realised that I had picked up the sword of my own volition. Eternity had not suggested it. And the sword had been the tool to purge the corruption. Maybe I’d unwittingly shown up with the sword of the chosen one or some other such bullshit, and rashly got myself into trouble.
Fake it till a bear eats you, right?
Still, I wasn’t going to take any chances. I slotted in [TRAVERSAL][ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERY] to give myself a running chance. This place was dangerous. Much as I wasn’t yet convinced the whole experience was real, I had no death wish or desire to end painfully. The last thing I needed was to make a run for it, trip, and break my ankle.
Then I could get stabbed by the spears.
That left the final slot with [MAGIC] and [ALTERATION] as the other two branches that I hadn’t yet explored. A pity I couldn’t pick one of each.
Magic was an attractive option. “I cast fireball” is in every nerd’s vocabulary for a reason. But I thought better of it. I knew absolutely nothing of this world and its rules, imagined or otherwise. Magic may just be some simple stuff, or it may be some crazy thing that wanted the marrow in my bones as payment. Or gave me radiation sickness or some other insane shit. Nope. I wanted to run away from the village, not torch myself or do some other unspeakable stupidity.
Without more information, I wasn’t going to risk it.
So I moved to the last one. [ALTERATION] seemed like a group of skills specifically designed to maintain and improve gear. [MODIFY: WEAPONRY], [MODIFY: ARMOUR], [CRAFT: CLOCKWORK], [CRAFT: GEAR], [CRAFT: RUNE]. I stopped on the idea of crafting runes.
[DECIPHER, COPY, CREATE, AUGMENT RUNE SETS FOR IMBUEMENT]
I had no idea what “imbuement” meant in my context, but it sounded like something that could be interesting. Everything else seemed to require specialised equipment to be useful. If everything worked as I assumed it did, this would give me the ability to improve my weapon and gear with runes, which would probably be something I could do even on the run.
In a world of mechabears, rabbit people, god-like AIs reading my mind, and all other shit, this made as much sense as everything else.
[ALTERATION][CRAFT: RUNE] slotted into the final position.
[ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR SELECTION?]
Of course I wasn’t certain of any of it. I knew nothing about these things and the descriptions were vague at best. I nodded and mentally accepted.
Some time passed and nothing happened. I just stared at the text. It probably only lasted for a couple of minutes, but in my state it felt like hours. Finally, I got a whole page of text showing up.
[CLASS GENERATED: RUNIC SWORDSMAN]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: +5 CONSTITUTION, +5 STRENGTH, +3 INTELLIGENCE, +3 WILLPOWER]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: PHYSICAL SKILL LINE - SWORD APTITUDE - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: SURVIVAL SKILL LINE - DAMAGE MITIGATION - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: TRAVERSAL SKILL LINE - ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERY - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: ALTERATION SKILL LINE - CRAFT RUNE - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: 1 SKILL POINT]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: 1 ATTRIBUTE POINT]
That was it? I raised my eyebrows and looked around. Nothing had changed. I made a fist, opened it, made it again. I didn’t feel different. No bright lights. No music. I was more than a little disappointed with the lack of fanfare for the whole event.
And getting those stat boosts didn’t feel like they’d done anything. I felt just as weak as before, and probably just as dumb. If I was supposed to feel something immediately, it didn’t happen.
I got to my feet and picked up the sword from where I’d left it leaning against the wall in its scabbard. When I drew it, however, I realised the weapon felt different in my hand. I held it out and realised I was gripping it differently than I had when facing the bear. Honestly, the memory of how I’d wielded the weapon made me slightly ashamed of myself, likening it to a kid playing with a stick to whack weeds.
“Okay, so there is something different,” I grumbled, trying to figure how the knowledge had just popped into my head. Not knowledge exactly, but muscle memory.
I’d been at best passable with a kitchen knife in the past. I could chop veggies without losing fingers. Now, I felt as if I could rival some Youtube chefs with a knife.
Interesting and understated.
Testing the other changes—namely the strength increase—was going to need some creativity. How does go about testing how stronger or smarter they are in a locked room underground?
I probably should’ve considered that twenty minutes earlier.
And then my stomach grumbled, loudly enough that it echoed in the larger chamber beyond. It almost doubled me over with hunger, my whole being demanding feeding. It hurt as if someone had stabbed me through the guts, and was still wriggling the knife in there, carving their initials on my entrails.
With this latest unpleasant development, I took a tentative step back out from the crystal chamber, carefully avoiding the pressure plate that had originally summoned the bear. I hadn’t the stomach for a second fight.
The door on the other side opened easily and I stepped into the portal room.
There was an entire group of rabbits clustered around the portal, staring down. Their ears were laid back and none were speaking to one another. They all stared, front paws gripping the stone wall. I could see them but they couldn’t see me from the angle. Between them hovered the Eternity blob.
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat, gripped my sword tighter, and approached. I was ready to leap back at the first sign of a spear trying to stab down at me.
To my utter shock, all the rabbits exploded into cheering. They raised their paws and bounced up and down as I stared up, uncomprehending. One of them broke away from the cheering, disappeared for a moment, then returned and slid down a ladder through the portal. The others drew back as I approached, two of them remaining by the sides of the ladder, holding it steady. They beckoned me up.
“Okay,” I muttered, feeling more confused by the moment. This was not what I’d expected. If anything, some of them looked relieved to see me.
I lowered my sword. Even without any sound coming from up there, their joy looked genuine enough, and they were not showing any hostility. For one, none of them held any kind of pointy stick.
Not like I had any choice. That ladder was my only way back out of the place.
I didn’t sheathe my sword as I climbed. The moment my head passed through the portal, I received another message.
[SYNCHRONISING WITH MAIN CONSCIOUSNESS]
[RESTRICTION LEVEL 1 HAS BEEN LIFTED]
[INTERFACE IS UPDATING]
My interface flickered off for a fraction of a moment, then reappeared. The [MAP] tag also turned from grey to white, and I knew it was active now. I made a mental note to check it out later.
“You have been in combat,” Eternity said as the orb flitted to my side. It sounded surprised.
“No fucking kidding! There was a bear down there!” I barely kept myself from screaming at the blob as I stepped off the ladder. “A warning would’ve been nice.”
“That is not possible,” another voice said and I jumped at this one. It was deep and had a strange accent.
I turned and saw the old iepurran approaching me, nose twitching, ears laid back almost like a mantle down its back. The others made room for it, all suddenly serious.
“We have never had a guardian in our dungeon,” it said. “We have not requested a guardian.”
I wanted to ask how it was speaking Romanian, then realised it wasn’t. I wasn’t even speaking Romanian, but something different and weirder. I didn’t recognise the words, but understood them perfectly.
“Ce naiba?” I said, testing my old language.
Sure enough, I could still speak Romanian and understand it. But it was inverted in priority, like when I would’ve been speaking English back home. I had to mentally reach out for it.
“The insight?” I turned to Eternity. “That’s why I can understand them now?”
Eternity bobbed. “Yes. This is why you were set near this particular node. The infestation shouldn’t have been advanced enough to generate a guardian. This is most concerning.”
I stared at it. After some moments, I moved my gaze to the iepurran—suddenly, I felt awkward thinking of them as rabbits now that they were gathered around me, all of them looking so worried.
“There was a bear down there,” I repeated, calmer now. Somehow, what I was feeling from Eternity smothered my anger. The blob was worried. “It attacked me. Had a metal leg and a metal jaw.”
All the gathered iepurrans gasped at that. Several formed a huddle and spoke quickly. I only caught snatches of the conversation before they broke apart and rushed away, dust kicking up behind them.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
I wanted to ask more. My head was full of questions, all of them about what the fuck was going on.
Those questions would have to wait.
That final moments I’d been anticipating this whole time finally arrived. The world dimmed to near darkness, sounds came to me as if from a world away, and my head felt like it weighed a ton. I felt my knees give out from under me as dizziness blanketed my senses.
I thought I would vomit. My stomach folded in on itself, hungrier than I’d ever felt in my life.
The last thing I saw was an iepurran reaching out for me. Then the world tilted at ninety degrees and went black.
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