“Levelling then, where do I start?” SJ asked.
“At the beginning.”
SJ sighed. “Can we please just have a normal conversation?”
“I thought this was normal. I have watched many of your Earth TV series to make sure I am attuned to your conversational needs.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Of course, as an AI, we are to keep up to date with the latest Earth trends so that we are aware of potential new outcomes here in Amathera.”
“How would someone do that? It is not as though we can bring anything with us?”
“You would be surprised! Only recently has a new genre of music begun to appear across the planet.”
“Really, what sort of music?”
“A group calling themselves the Army has appeared singing all these new ballads.”
“The Army?”
“Yes. They are a strange group, all female as well.”
“What has their sex got to do with it?”
“That is the strangest thing. Sex does not normally matter in Amathera, but when it comes to this group, it brings the meaning to a whole new level. They have also become very popular amongst some races as they are quite diverse. They have had some sell-out concerts in some of the larger towns and are rumoured to be performing at one of the capitals soon.”
“Diverse? And what capitals?”
“There are six main continents to Amathera, each with a capital city. The group consists of seven members: a troll, an orc, three dwarves, an elf and a human. The human is the lead singer, although they all sing parts. It was quite unnerving to behold.”
“So what has that got to do with them being female?”
“Have you ever seen a female troll or an orc, never mind female dwarves? None of them are exactly the most charismatic of creatures. The elf and human are the only two semi-attractive ones, although the elf has very large ears even for their race.”
“Do their looks matter if they are good at singing?”
“If you can call it singing. I call it moaning. You would have to listen to them to understand what I really mean.”
“Then why are they popular?”
“Apparently, the Army transcends worlds!”
SJ had images of one of her favourite K-pop groups. She had gotten into K-pop at University when her roommate played it continually, and she had fallen in love with the music. She had followed a group called BTS for some years; their followers were known as Army, and she could imagine someone trying to bring their music here. They had not produced anything new recently, and she had lost track of what the group had been up to.
“Can we get back to levelling now?”
“Oh. Yes. Sorry. Levelling 1-0-1. The first rule is don’t die. The second rule is to kill the enemy.”
“That is all the advice you have?”
“No. Let me finish, will you? You can level two ways, either in miniature or humanoid forms.”
“Is there a preference or better option?”
Silence.
“Dave?”
“Just checking the wiki.” Several moments passed before Dave again responded. “Nope. Either work. Creatures are aligned to your size and level within starter zones until you reach level 5. Then the fun can really begin.”
“Okay. Well, I would like to try it in miniature form to practice trying to fly. The sooner I can get used to flying, the easier travel will be.”
“If you wish.”
SJ concentrated on becoming miniature, and her body suddenly shrunk. She had not even considered it beforehand, but the items she wore and carried also shrunk with her, to her relief. Once she had shrunk down, she stood amongst the blades of the grass that filled the meadow. From her six inches of height, she suddenly felt as though she was in the wilds looking around her. It reminded her of some old movies she had watched called Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
“How do I find targets?”
“You have to move from the safe zone. I would suggest not moving far as I am not sure what level monsters are around here. Although they should be matched, you can never be 100% certain.”
“That sounds ominous. So I need to leave the clearing then?”
“Yes.”
“You could have mentioned that while I was still large.”
“You did not…”
“Don’t!” SJ warned.
“Hmmph.”
SJ thought about becoming large again and soon returned to her humanoid size. Once she was, she started to walk towards the forest from where she stood by the water’s edge in the clearing. She had only walked about ten metres when a message popped up on her screen.
You are leaving your safe zone; be aware you may be attacked.
“I have moved far enough.” SJ again shrunk herself to a miniature form. “So what can I expect to fight?”
“No idea.”
“What do you mean you have no idea?”
“I have never looked after a Fae before, so this is all new to me.”
“Does your all-knowing wiki not tell you anything?”
“I can look.”
Again, there was Silence while Dave accessed the wiki. “Potentially, in a starter zone as a miniature, multiple species may attack you, mainly insects.”
“So, I keep an eye out for insects.” As SJ finished what she was saying, a buzzing sound could be heard. She looked up towards where the sound originated and saw a monstrous bee. Its black and yellow striped body looked huge with her miniature form, and she gasped slightly. A bright red flower stood three times her height, and the bee moved in and landed on it. She watched as it began to collect pollen from the flower. She daredn’t move and watched silently as it finished collecting the pollen before it took off, looking for its next source.
“Ok. That was a little scary.”
“Scary? It was a harmless honeybee. Did you not use your identification skill on it?”
“No. You did not mention anything about using the skill.”
“I thought common sense would prevail, but I was so misguided,” Dave sighed.
“Look, to make things easier for you, just think of me as a newborn, as you say, and tell me everything I should or need to do. Imagine I don’t know or understand anything.”
“That really is not hard to imagine.”
SJ shook her head in response, sighing. She began to push through the tall grass, continuing towards the massive forms of the trees she could see towering above the clearing. She had not moved far when she stumbled upon a small earthen mound in the grass.
“Oh no,” Dave said.
“What?” SJ asked, panicking.
“Termites.”
“Termites?”
“Yes. It is a Termite mound, and You have just triggered their proximity alarm.”
“How? I did not do anything.”
“The ground around a termite mound is filled with small pressure areas that will alert the guard.”
“They have a guard?” As SJ replied, she began to hear the skittering and scratching of feet before the head of a termite appeared at the mouth of the mound. Its white translucent head peering over and down at her. The termite had small pincer-style jaws that clicked together aggressively as it looked at SJ.
“Use your skill and identify it.”
“How?”
“Did you not set your identification skill on your character sheet?”
“And when did you mention that?”
“Ah. Good point, I didn’t. Oh well, you better do it now; you won't have to look at your skill tree every time.”
SJ quickly opened her character screen and moved her identification skill to the empty skill slots on the main screen. “Ok. All set. How do I use it?”
“Just think which slot it is in.”
SJ had placed it in the first slot, and as she did, the skill triggered. Nothing happened, and a small cooldown timer gradually ran down on the skill. She had not been looking at the termite when she had triggered it. She would have face-palmed if she had not started panicking as a second and third termite head had appeared at the opening. She looked in the ugly little insect's direction and triggered the skill again. Her display changed, and two small bars and a level identifier appeared above each termite.
Termite Worker Level 1
Hit points - 5
Mana points - 5
All three had the same details.
“All level 1 and have the same health and mana as me,” SJ said, her vocal octave even higher than her miniature forms normal. She stood and drew her short blade. The termites were not really very large. Compared to her size, they were about 1 inch long as they moved over the mound's side and approached her.
“Remember. Don’t die.” Dave said unhelpfully.
“Wow. Thanks for the pep talk.” SJ replied as the first termite began to run at her. The other two stayed back slightly. As it scuttled at her, she automatically fell into a side stance following her martial arts training and held the blade in a stabbing position. As the termite charged, she waited until the last moment before stepping sideways just out of the reach of its pincers that clicked down on the space she had left, and she stabbed out with her blade, striking the termite in its soft, fleshy, assumed neck.
The termite squealed, and she noticed its health bar drop by over half. She struck again quickly before it could control its momentum and turn towards her. The blade struck it in its leg this time, and its health bar dropped again. It flopped to the ground as it hit zero. The two remaining termites attacked. Both now ran directly for her in retribution for their fallen comrade. She dodged the first charge but was caught by a glancing blow from the second. It made her stagger, and she took 1 damage. She saw a dark stain of blood appear on her top where it had caught her on the side.
She automatically grabbed at the injury with her hand, wincing in pain. It was not bleeding badly, but she knew if that did one damage, she only had four health left and needed to kill them quickly. She struck at the nearest one, catching it in its abdomen as it turned back to face her from its charge. It squealed in pain and received four damage from the strike. The injured termite backed up as the first one she had dodged turned back and went to bite her.
She dove sideways to escape its strike and rolled on the ground. Coming to rest by the side of the mound. The termite turned to go straight for her again. She was ready again this time, and as it went to hit her, she stood defensively and parried its attack, knocking its pincers to the side as she drove the blade into its soft neck. The termite took 3 damage and pulled back. Both were injured badly now, one with one health and the other only having two remaining.
SJ was panting from the exertion. It was the first real fight she had ever been in, and the realisation that she was fighting for her life was something she had never experienced before. Her nerves were on edge and her stomach churned, feeling both sick and as though her bowels would open at any second. She faced her foe down, though, with grit and determination. “Come on.” she cried at them.
The one with one hitpoint left came first, and rather than stab with her knife, she brought her foot around in a sweeping strike and caught it across the side of its head. The other moved at her as she finished her movement and, rather than bite at her, bowled straight into her, jumping at her stomach.
The wind left her lungs, and she was thrown backwards onto the ground. The smaller termite now climbing up her body and about to bite down on her face. She had received another damage from the strike, and she reached out with her hand, grabbing one of its pincers as she drove the knife up and into its softer underbelly. It keeled over sideways, suffering its final damage.
The termite flopped forward onto her dead. She panted as she sat up, pushing the dead insect from her and covered in the white ooze which had seeped from its wound. “Urgh,” she said as she sat up.
“Well done,” Dave said.
“Thanks,” SJ replied, panting. “That was harder than I expected.” She felt her side and could still feel the dampness of the blood from the initial hit she had taken, wincing slightly.
“Let’s see what loot they have,” Dave said.
“Loot?”
“Yes. All bodies may be looted.”
SJ stood and bent over the nearest body. A message appeared on her screen.
Would you like to loot the corpse? Yes/No
She accepted Yes.
1 x copper, 2 x strips of light leather received.
Walking around the other two corpses, she did the same. The three termites awarded her two copper pieces and five light leather strips, automatically appearing in her inventory.
“I need to go back and rest for a bit,” SJ said.
“Probably best. At least termites are not poisonous. Some of the insects may have poisoned you if they hit you.”
“Now you tell me.”
“You didn’t…” Dave not finishing his statement knowing that SJ would.
“Ask,” she sighed.
“At least it was not a Termite soldier and just workers.” As soon as Dave finished saying that, the ground started to shake, and small clumps of earth started to fall from the termite mound entrance.
“What is that?” SJ said in shock.
“I think I spoke too soon. If I were you, I would run,” Dave said as a head three times larger than the previous termites' appeared. The head was dark ochre and had pincers longer than SJ’s arms.
SJ began to run.
“Levelling then, where do I start?” SJ asked.
“At the beginning.”
SJ sighed. “Can we please just have a normal conversation?”
“I thought this was normal. I have watched many of your Earth TV series to make sure I am attuned to your conversational needs.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Of course, as an AI, we are to keep up to date with the latest Earth trends so that we are aware of potential new outcomes here in Amathera.”
“How would someone do that? It is not as though we can bring anything with us?”
“You would be surprised! Only recently has a new genre of music begun to appear across the planet.”
“Really, what sort of music?”
“A group calling themselves the Army has appeared singing all these new ballads.”
“The Army?”
“Yes. They are a strange group, all female as well.”
“What has their sex got to do with it?”
“That is the strangest thing. Sex does not normally matter in Amathera, but when it comes to this group, it brings the meaning to a whole new level. They have also become very popular amongst some races as they are quite diverse. They have had some sell-out concerts in some of the larger towns and are rumoured to be performing at one of the capitals soon.”
“Diverse? And what capitals?”
“There are six main continents to Amathera, each with a capital city. The group consists of seven members: a troll, an orc, three dwarves, an elf and a human. The human is the lead singer, although they all sing parts. It was quite unnerving to behold.”
“So what has that got to do with them being female?”
“Have you ever seen a female troll or an orc, never mind female dwarves? None of them are exactly the most charismatic of creatures. The elf and human are the only two semi-attractive ones, although the elf has very large ears even for their race.”
“Do their looks matter if they are good at singing?”
“If you can call it singing. I call it moaning. You would have to listen to them to understand what I really mean.”
“Then why are they popular?”
“Apparently, the Army transcends worlds!”
SJ had images of one of her favourite K-pop groups. She had gotten into K-pop at University when her roommate played it continually, and she had fallen in love with the music. She had followed a group called BTS for some years; their followers were known as Army, and she could imagine someone trying to bring their music here. They had not produced anything new recently, and she had lost track of what the group had been up to.
“Can we get back to levelling now?”
“Oh. Yes. Sorry. Levelling 1-0-1. The first rule is don’t die. The second rule is to kill the enemy.”
“That is all the advice you have?”
“No. Let me finish, will you? You can level two ways, either in miniature or humanoid forms.”
“Is there a preference or better option?”
Silence.
“Dave?”
“Just checking the wiki.” Several moments passed before Dave again responded. “Nope. Either work. Creatures are aligned to your size and level within starter zones until you reach level 5. Then the fun can really begin.”
“Okay. Well, I would like to try it in miniature form to practice trying to fly. The sooner I can get used to flying, the easier travel will be.”
“If you wish.”
SJ concentrated on becoming miniature, and her body suddenly shrunk. She had not even considered it beforehand, but the items she wore and carried also shrunk with her, to her relief. Once she had shrunk down, she stood amongst the blades of the grass that filled the meadow. From her six inches of height, she suddenly felt as though she was in the wilds looking around her. It reminded her of some old movies she had watched called Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
“How do I find targets?”
“You have to move from the safe zone. I would suggest not moving far as I am not sure what level monsters are around here. Although they should be matched, you can never be 100% certain.”
“That sounds ominous. So I need to leave the clearing then?”
“Yes.”
“You could have mentioned that while I was still large.”
“You did not…”
“Don’t!” SJ warned.
“Hmmph.”
SJ thought about becoming large again and soon returned to her humanoid size. Once she was, she started to walk towards the forest from where she stood by the water’s edge in the clearing. She had only walked about ten metres when a message popped up on her screen.
You are leaving your safe zone; be aware you may be attacked.
“I have moved far enough.” SJ again shrunk herself to a miniature form. “So what can I expect to fight?”
“No idea.”
“What do you mean you have no idea?”
“I have never looked after a Fae before, so this is all new to me.”
“Does your all-knowing wiki not tell you anything?”
“I can look.”
Again, there was Silence while Dave accessed the wiki. “Potentially, in a starter zone as a miniature, multiple species may attack you, mainly insects.”
“So, I keep an eye out for insects.” As SJ finished what she was saying, a buzzing sound could be heard. She looked up towards where the sound originated and saw a monstrous bee. Its black and yellow striped body looked huge with her miniature form, and she gasped slightly. A bright red flower stood three times her height, and the bee moved in and landed on it. She watched as it began to collect pollen from the flower. She daredn’t move and watched silently as it finished collecting the pollen before it took off, looking for its next source.
“Ok. That was a little scary.”
“Scary? It was a harmless honeybee. Did you not use your identification skill on it?”
“No. You did not mention anything about using the skill.”
“I thought common sense would prevail, but I was so misguided,” Dave sighed.
“Look, to make things easier for you, just think of me as a newborn, as you say, and tell me everything I should or need to do. Imagine I don’t know or understand anything.”
“That really is not hard to imagine.”
SJ shook her head in response, sighing. She began to push through the tall grass, continuing towards the massive forms of the trees she could see towering above the clearing. She had not moved far when she stumbled upon a small earthen mound in the grass.
“Oh no,” Dave said.
“What?” SJ asked, panicking.
“Termites.”
“Termites?”
“Yes. It is a Termite mound, and You have just triggered their proximity alarm.”
“How? I did not do anything.”
“The ground around a termite mound is filled with small pressure areas that will alert the guard.”
“They have a guard?” As SJ replied, she began to hear the skittering and scratching of feet before the head of a termite appeared at the mouth of the mound. Its white translucent head peering over and down at her. The termite had small pincer-style jaws that clicked together aggressively as it looked at SJ.
“Use your skill and identify it.”
“How?”
“Did you not set your identification skill on your character sheet?”
“And when did you mention that?”
“Ah. Good point, I didn’t. Oh well, you better do it now; you won't have to look at your skill tree every time.”
SJ quickly opened her character screen and moved her identification skill to the empty skill slots on the main screen. “Ok. All set. How do I use it?”
“Just think which slot it is in.”
SJ had placed it in the first slot, and as she did, the skill triggered. Nothing happened, and a small cooldown timer gradually ran down on the skill. She had not been looking at the termite when she had triggered it. She would have face-palmed if she had not started panicking as a second and third termite head had appeared at the opening. She looked in the ugly little insect's direction and triggered the skill again. Her display changed, and two small bars and a level identifier appeared above each termite.
Termite Worker Level 1
Hit points - 5
Mana points - 5
All three had the same details.
“All level 1 and have the same health and mana as me,” SJ said, her vocal octave even higher than her miniature forms normal. She stood and drew her short blade. The termites were not really very large. Compared to her size, they were about 1 inch long as they moved over the mound's side and approached her.
“Remember. Don’t die.” Dave said unhelpfully.
“Wow. Thanks for the pep talk.” SJ replied as the first termite began to run at her. The other two stayed back slightly. As it scuttled at her, she automatically fell into a side stance following her martial arts training and held the blade in a stabbing position. As the termite charged, she waited until the last moment before stepping sideways just out of the reach of its pincers that clicked down on the space she had left, and she stabbed out with her blade, striking the termite in its soft, fleshy, assumed neck.
The termite squealed, and she noticed its health bar drop by over half. She struck again quickly before it could control its momentum and turn towards her. The blade struck it in its leg this time, and its health bar dropped again. It flopped to the ground as it hit zero. The two remaining termites attacked. Both now ran directly for her in retribution for their fallen comrade. She dodged the first charge but was caught by a glancing blow from the second. It made her stagger, and she took 1 damage. She saw a dark stain of blood appear on her top where it had caught her on the side.
She automatically grabbed at the injury with her hand, wincing in pain. It was not bleeding badly, but she knew if that did one damage, she only had four health left and needed to kill them quickly. She struck at the nearest one, catching it in its abdomen as it turned back to face her from its charge. It squealed in pain and received four damage from the strike. The injured termite backed up as the first one she had dodged turned back and went to bite her.
She dove sideways to escape its strike and rolled on the ground. Coming to rest by the side of the mound. The termite turned to go straight for her again. She was ready again this time, and as it went to hit her, she stood defensively and parried its attack, knocking its pincers to the side as she drove the blade into its soft neck. The termite took 3 damage and pulled back. Both were injured badly now, one with one health and the other only having two remaining.
SJ was panting from the exertion. It was the first real fight she had ever been in, and the realisation that she was fighting for her life was something she had never experienced before. Her nerves were on edge and her stomach churned, feeling both sick and as though her bowels would open at any second. She faced her foe down, though, with grit and determination. “Come on.” she cried at them.
The one with one hitpoint left came first, and rather than stab with her knife, she brought her foot around in a sweeping strike and caught it across the side of its head. The other moved at her as she finished her movement and, rather than bite at her, bowled straight into her, jumping at her stomach.
The wind left her lungs, and she was thrown backwards onto the ground. The smaller termite now climbing up her body and about to bite down on her face. She had received another damage from the strike, and she reached out with her hand, grabbing one of its pincers as she drove the knife up and into its softer underbelly. It keeled over sideways, suffering its final damage.
The termite flopped forward onto her dead. She panted as she sat up, pushing the dead insect from her and covered in the white ooze which had seeped from its wound. “Urgh,” she said as she sat up.
“Well done,” Dave said.
“Thanks,” SJ replied, panting. “That was harder than I expected.” She felt her side and could still feel the dampness of the blood from the initial hit she had taken, wincing slightly.
“Let’s see what loot they have,” Dave said.
“Loot?”
“Yes. All bodies may be looted.”
SJ stood and bent over the nearest body. A message appeared on her screen.
Would you like to loot the corpse? Yes/No
She accepted Yes.
1 x copper, 2 x strips of light leather received.
Walking around the other two corpses, she did the same. The three termites awarded her two copper pieces and five light leather strips, automatically appearing in her inventory.
“I need to go back and rest for a bit,” SJ said.
“Probably best. At least termites are not poisonous. Some of the insects may have poisoned you if they hit you.”
“Now you tell me.”
“You didn’t…” Dave not finishing his statement knowing that SJ would.
“Ask,” she sighed.
“At least it was not a Termite soldier and just workers.” As soon as Dave finished saying that, the ground started to shake, and small clumps of earth started to fall from the termite mound entrance.
“What is that?” SJ said in shock.
“I think I spoke too soon. If I were you, I would run,” Dave said as a head three times larger than the previous termites' appeared. The head was dark ochre and had pincers longer than SJ’s arms.
SJ began to run.
