Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.
Authors Note: Apologies for delay. It has not been a good month. Hope you still enjoy the chapter. It hasn't been edited yet so will be doing that later.
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Swamy woke up in the morning and after his daily ablutions, he opened his laptop to check the Long Island forums. He followed this habit to keep himself updated on the latest happenings in the game. Well, some of it atleast. As he had invariably found out, the incredible number of discussions and posts in the forums would probably require a data mining engine to completely sort through. Or someone like Rajan.
Now that was a singular being who lived for his interests. Or maybe he was like many human beings who put effort into what interests them and ignore the rest, like studies. In any case, it was hardly possible that Rajan would miss something unless someone was deliberately trying to hide it, using code and what not.
Today's news though was pretty obvious. The location of the starter villages in the dwarvish lands had come out. What was interesting though was that it was not the game company who came out with them but rather the players who found it out after logging in as the corresponding dwarf race.
'So Hya'cinth became one of them, for the Mare dwarves. The other is Fudi'thi for the Fare dwarves. Quite a mouthful. Though uncovering starting locations like this...I wonder how they are chosen.' The locations in Ilmentia and the other human islands were chosen because game testers had determined them to be starting locations. But the ones in the dwarvish lands should have been determined by the game system.
'Ah no point thinking about this stuff. Better get ready.'
"Hi Swamy!"
"Hey Swamy!"
""Hey Raka! *giggle""
Swamy sighed. If you are wondering whether these voices were of his friends then you would be wrong. These were complete strangers. Ok not all of them. Some were familiar faces of random classmates who he seldom spoke to. 'But the rest are, well...'
Swamy sighed again. As it turned out, his friends were not the only one who recognized him from the video. At first there were only suspicions. But after looking at the video again and again and comparing his face, well, they did see his face daily, so they figured it out. And then the word spread.
Swamy couldn't understand why it was that people were interested in him personally. I mean Raka's videos had something in them. Suspense, action, etc. On the other hand, he was just a normal guy. Even if people were interested in the top most player in a virtual reality game, there were several of them. As many as the games out in the market. So he wasn't anything special.
But then he guessed maybe it was just his two minutes of fame. Like those actresses who get caught without makeup. 'I hope it passes away soon.'
"Hey Swamy, would you like to join us for a bit. We were talking about Long Island...." Some random guy said while pointing to a group having a couple of guys and girls.
"Ah..I am sorry. Bit busy right now." And Swamy walked away.
This was the other problem. People found pretences to ask him 'stuff' about the game. 'I mean it's not like I know much more than you in the first place. Also if I had to tell someone I would rather tell my friends than you people.'
Swamy finally entered his classroom.
"Hey Swamy, how's it going?" Manish said. Swamy grimaced.
"As usual eh..." Rajan laughed.
Amazingly, Swamy had realized, that his friends were the ones who became his hiding closet. More than that, they didn't even try to weasel out game stuff from him. 'Guess I lucked out when we became friends.'
Rajan and Sneha were not from the same island so many of the things Raka knew was not really useful for them anyway. What surprised him more was that Manish and Himali refused to find out things through him.
"We like to play our own way. Though we won't say no to some help from time to time," they said smiling.
'Kinda ashamed that I did not tell them about me for so long.'
"So would you be interested in joining our guild?" Himali asked while smiling.
"Well, I would like to have my own guild. Sorry again," Swamy simply smiled.
And that was that. Life went on as they started their own discussion about the game.
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Raka stood outside the library staring at that God Metalman statue again. He had this feeling like he had once again started this game. Whether he liked it or not, in this place, he did not know anyone or had anything to do.
Except Kilthan.
'He is running late.' For now atleast, his primary source of information was the library. And for that he needed Kilthan's help.
'Once I am done here, I will go look for a job,' Raka thought as he planned his game day. 'From there I will need information about the things around here.'
Anyone looking at him right now would have thought that he was fervently worshiping the God Metalman. Though, if one could look at his eyes they would find that they were completely unfocused like if his mind were anywhere but here.
"Sorry, I am late." A voice interrupted Raka's train of thought.
He looked back and saw Kilthan running up to him. A running dwarf should have made a comical sight. But Kilthan's running had the kind of balance and grace only a seaman could produce. 'Or perhaps that is due to earth magic..hmm..maybe both.'
"It's alright. Thanks for coming like always." Raka smiled.
Because entering the library required the dwarf's help, Raka always prioritized this thing over all else. After all, Kilthan couldn't always be around. Also he didn't know when Kilthan might need to head out on another voyage.
Today, he was gathering information about the geography of this island. 'Let's spend a little time in history as well.' Thinking all that he headed up to the second floor and looked up some books. He brought them to a reading desk and sat down to peruse.
The dwarf island is called the Earth Ring in common tongue. This is because when the first dwarves settled here, the island was in the shape of a circle or ring. The dwarf history is said to be one of the oldest in the world as we were one of the first ones to choose Inflection. The reasons we had to move to this island have not been found yet but the oldest records and ruins found do indicate that the first dwarves arrived on this island about 70,000 years ago.
Over the years due to natural erosion around the coastal region and varying sea levels, the island's shape changed and is no longer considered a circle. Observers in high flying balloons have often remarked that they cannot distinguish the circular shape or ring and that the island now has an indeterminate shape.
'Hmm...what is Inflection? Are they talking about curse magic?' Raka was confused. Although he understood that the reason for the creation of dwarves would probably not be called something like a curse. Atleast the dwarves wouldn't call it that.
A little while later he found some other interesting things.
Around the time the humans arrived, that is 20000 years ago, the dwarves split into two groups one of which headed north across the Du Var mountains. Records do not indicate what entailed them to split. But eventually these dwarfs would form the Fare who had pale and whitish skin.
Around the same time the group remaining in the south claimed the name of the Mare and found their skin getting darker.
For a long time it was believed that this may have been due to some sort of magic disturbance on the island. However new evidence has recently been uncovered due to studies in weather patterns which indicate that the changes in our physiology may have actually been caused due to change in weather patterns and not magic like it was believed previously.
Due to some cataclysmic event around that time period, which some researchers have attributed to an extinct volcano in the Du Var mountains, the weather south of the mountain range became hotter while the weather in the north became colder. We may have adapted to suit these changes.
'Hmm so it is like the south became Africa and the north became Europe?' Raka continued. In a history book he found this.
The first humans arrived on this island about 20000 years ago from the east. Records indicate that through them we learned much of what had happened in the rest of the world. At that point in time dwarves were still not willing to sail and make long voyages of discovery. This is what we refer to as the Dark Ages where the common belief was that if the dwarf went to sea he would not come back and be devoured by sea beasts as he lost his strength. Unfortunately, it was a time of great superstition and free thought was condoned.
All of it changed with the arrival of the humans who came sailing on their ships. All the previous beliefs were put to test as young dwarfs realized that a lot of what they had been taught about the world for so long, might have been simply wrong.
However, the powers that be at that time feared rather than welcomed change. The humans were only allowed to stay on the island for a short period of time after which they were forced to move further west. They will eventually settle on four different islands. But the damage had already been done. Even after the departure of humans, the thinking of individual dwarves kept changing which eventually brought us out of the Dark Ages and started the Age of Innovation. However, it is only several thousand years later, that we finally sailed again and re-established relations with the humans which brought about a great prosperity eventually allowing the dwarves to once again become the leading race in the world.
'Interesting! Truly interesting!' Raka nodded his head.
The renewal of the relationship with humans also became the trigger to the end of good relations between the north and the south kingdom. Around 3000 years ago, both the north and south kingdoms jointly decided to approach the humans and seek their help in discovering the world. Through them, we learned the art of ship building and many of our oldest ship designs show signs of their influences. This began what we call the Age of Innovation. An era of invention and discovery was brought forth.
But around that same time, conflict arose between two schools of thought. One school still advocated the supremacy of the Dwarf race as passed down in ancient teachings and chose to dominate. The other school chose the modern view that all races have their own advantages and disadvantages and chose to accommodate. Eventually, the Fare were influenced by the school of Domination and the Mare went the other way and chose Accomodation. In hindsight, these schools of thought may have also been due to the influence of the humans.
Many wars were fought between the north and the south kingdoms during this period, eventually leading to the slave wars which occurred around 1200 years ago. This war was particularly fierce and threatened the survival of both kingdoms.
It was only when God Metalman arrived that the war ended....
'Wait! God Metalman arrived? The God came?!' Raka was stumped. He read further and the book did mention the God Metalman again. But no factual information was provided. 'Gods! Seriously! Wasn't he just a powerful being?' Raka doubted. But then there was this statue of God Metalman.
'Did he truly arrive here on a mecha? Or did he just look like it?' Raka sighed. 'Guess this is enough for today.' He looked up and found Kilthan reading some books.
"Hey Kilthan, what are you reading?" He asked.
"Oh these....they are God Metalman comics." Kilthan smiled sheepishly.
"Ah...wait! WHAT?!" Raka was shocked.
"Hey quiet down. Where do you think you are?" Kilthan reminded.
"Uhm...yeah sorry. Um could you show me?"
"Here you go. This one's about the God Metalman and his fight with the Green Dragon." Kilthan handed him one.
Raka flipped a few black and white pages and saw that this was the story of a dwarf who suddenly found himself facing a green dragon for some reason. Raka flipped the page and the dwarf transformed. 'Um...' Yep, the dwarf transformed. From nowhere came pieces of metallic armor which automatically snapped onto his entire body. Looking extremely cool, he then declared,
'I am God Metalman. And you are going down!'
Raka could not believe his eyes. He stared at this thing so long that tears started forming in his eyes. 'Is this for real!'
"Hey Kilthan, is this God Metalman for real?" He just had to ask.
"Ofcourse he is real. He once came to our island to end a very fierce war which threatened the existence of the dwarves. He is our saviour." Kilthan replied.
"And where is he now?" Raka asked.
"Dunno. He is a God so he might be doing godly things you know. Many believe that he will always come back when we are in a great crisis." Kilthan said.
"Ah. And by any chance, is this thing real?" Raka could not explain this. He simply showed the picture of the armor attaching to the dwarf.
"Ah yes. That is the metalman technique given to us by the God Metalman."
"Metalman technique? You mean to say this thing is for real?! Can you do it too? Can all dwarves do it?" Raka asked.
"Hahaha how could it be that simple! It is a very advanced technique only the best can learn. One can only learn it in the Metalman Academy which the God Metalman established himself. Only the most talented dwarves can enroll in the academy and only the best among them can get the right to learn the metalman technique." Kilthan said proudly.
"In fact, in the entire thousand year history of the academy, there have been only ten who have been successful in learning the metalman technique. None of them are living now, unfortunately." Kilthan sighed.
"Really? So difficult, eh? I guess the requirements to learn this technique must be very high?" Raka remarked.
"As high as the moon from where I stand," Kilthan laughed. "Ah now that you mention it, the Academy ranking exam will soon begin. Lots of people would go there to watch. Why don't you come watch as well?" Kilthan said.
"Don't worry, many humans attend." Kilthan added as an afterthought.
"I would like that. Maybe someone will perform the metalman technique," Raka said.
"I wouldn't count on it. No one has been able to do it for a long time. But if someone has, by the moon, it will be very exciting." Kilthan's smile grew even wider.
'This I got to see to believe.' Raka simply thought.
As they left, Raka saw the statue again. He again thought about the God Metalman. Knowing this thing was real had completely changed his perspective. As he looked at the statue, something bugged his mind connecting a link from the deep past.
'The Oracle was an existence which came 17 generations ago to stop the fierce war in Ilmentia. This God Metalman came around 1200 years ago to stop the fierce war on this island. Considering an average human lifespan, wouldn't they have come around the same time?'
Raka did not know if that meant something or rather he did not even know why he had this thought.
'Could be just an interesting coincidence. But both the Oracle and this God Metalman seem to be powerful existences if they could stop the wars single-handedly. Wonder where did they come from and where did they go?' Raka pondered for some time but could come to no conclusion. He sighed.
The next thing on Raka's list was to find a job. He decided to try the most obvious place he could think of.
"Hello and welcome to Minnie's Spell Scrolls," came a soft voice as he opened the door. This shop was in a simply painted building, which somehow highly contrasted with the surrounding houses that had been painted with all the colors of the rainbow.
And then he was shocked again. Raka simply stared at the one who called out not believing his eyes.
"How may I help you?" that soft voice asked again shaking Raka up from his shock.
He simply shook his head and sighed. 'Guess today is going to be one weird day.' What shocked him was this woman who greeted him. She was a beastman. 'Or in her case beastwoman?' In fact, looking at her, she seemed like some kind of large brown cat who had suddenly decided to stand up like a human. He half expected her to swish her tail around but then remembered the beastmen he saw before didn't have tails.
Unlike the past beastmen who had only covered the basic lower parts and looked like those guys who have 8 abs and could punch through walls, she was slender and wearing a dress. And it clearly bulged out near the breast region. If he couldn't have told by the voice, this kinda proved that she was a female beastmen.
'On a dwarvish island no less. Or rather now my previous plans are no good.' Raka was counting on the owner being a human. 'But could the beastmen use all types of magic and make spell scrolls?' Raka's experience dictated that wasn't the case.
"Um...do you make the spell scrolls?" He couldn't help asking.
"Ah no. It is master who makes them." She smiled.
"Master? May I meet this master...please." Raka said.
"Ah please wait a moment. I will go inform her." The catwoman smiled and left.
Soon, she returned with a human woman.
"Hello, you wanted to meet me?" She asked brusquely.
The owner of the shop was actually a young woman or maybe she was older but had a way to hide it. From what Raka could tell, she would definitely be younger than the Queen but seemed older than Lady Altia and Verina. She dressed in plain practical clothes. She had tied her auburn hair loosely and her face at this moment seemed like she would punch him if he was just wasting her time. Still, Raka could tell she was quite pretty.
"Ah, I am Raka. I can also make spell scrolls. I wonder if I could ask for a job in some capacity." Raka said.
The owner looked up and down a few times and then said, "Did ya just arrive on the island recently?"
"Yes. Just a few days ago." Raka nodded while smiling.
She sighed and shook her head. "Cause yur new I will explain it to ya. Making spell scrolls is a business of trust. Ya make them so ya know that once sealed no one can know what is inside. It could be something else, even something which might harm ya. So no one will simply buy yur spell scrolls. Also, I have this shop because I have earned the trust. I cannot hire anyone likely to affect my trust no matter who they are."
Raka nodded in understanding. This was an obvious disadvantage of spell scrolls.
"So if I earn your trust, could I ask for a job then?" Raka asked.
"No. To be able to sell spell scrolls you have to earn the trust of the king. Also, in every town and city there is only one person allowed to sell spell scrolls. So unless someone dies, you will not be allowed." She simply said.
"Ah...is that so. But why is only one person allowed?"
She sighed this time. "To keep a close watch on us. As I said, it is a business of trust. And they never trust you completely with such an important thing. Now if that's all I will appreciate if you leave." And she turned to leave.
Just then Raka decided something.
"Um...just a moment please." He said.
The owner lady turned around and this time she frowned even harder.
"I could not help noticing but in the city there are not many of the...um not many beastmen. Or rather she is the first one I have seen in the city. Would it be ok if I can ask a little about the beastmen from her?" Raka asked.
"Hmm...yur an odd one aren't ya." The owner lady actually tilted her head as if wondering something. "Say, ya wouldn't happen to be one of the Goddess's children now?"
Raka nodded his head in the affirmative.
"That explains it. Most others would not ask this question." She actually smiled this time. A smiling lady is a lovely lady. Raka had always believed that. 'She does looks better smiling.'
"Tell me why do you want to ask about beastmen?" She asked instead.
"Ah, as I am a Goddess's children, I lack knowledge about the world. So I thought why not learn things wherever possible. I have met beastmen before but at that time they were trying to kill me. I didn't feel that was a right time to ask them questions." Raka smiled.
"Ha ha ha....trying to be funny are ya!" And the frown was back on her face.
"No no...it is the only reason I asked. If she is uncomfortable I take my words back." Raka apologized.
Instead of replying the owner lady simply stared at him. Feeling uncomfortable Raka decided to leave. 'Better try my luck elsewhere.'
But just as he turned around to walk away, the owner lady said.
"Hold on!"
Raka turned back confused.
"You don't know she is a slave, do you?" She asked.
Raka was startled. 'Slave?' Then he remembered the history book. 'The slave wars!' There were slaves on this island.
"Like I thought." She nodded after looking at Raka's reaction. "Well in any case, we are busy so if you only came here for that, you should leave."
Raka sighed. He didn't have enough intimacy yet.
"Ah in that case, can I look at the various spell scrolls you have for sale?" Raka smiled.
"Hmm...ok. Look around all you want. Nemu here, will help you with the prices." Saying that the young owner lady nodded off to the catwoman and walked off or that was what Raka was expecting to happen. Rather she stood in the corner and watched him with eagle eyes and a frown on her face. Like she was the wall to overcome if he was going to bother the catwoman.
Raka sighed.
Raka looked around the shop. Samples of spell scrolls were kept in display glasses with their magic names colored and embossed on the paper. Small descriptions were added telling what the spell scroll was supposed to do. He asked and found that testing is possible, but he would still have to pay for that. 'Guess I can only take my chances.'
Looking at the various spell scrolls, Raka noticed that none of them were the fighting magics he used. No fireballs or air waves. Rather there were magics like Firelight, Heating, Cooling, Lightlamp, Swirling, etc. Reading the descriptions, most of them were tooling magics. Magics which would help to make things.
Although the Lightlamp magic was magic to light a lamp. 'Guess the same magic which was used on the lamps of the Magic Institute.'
"How much is the Lightlamp spell scroll?" Raka asked.
"2 silvers." Nemu replied.
'2 silvers?!' Raka was shocked. Who would spend 2 silvers to just light a lamp every night? If the dwarves actually paid so much the humans must be cheating them out of their wits.
"Does it sell a lot?" He couldn't help asking.
"Ah yes. It is necessary for the miners to use and some people in the city buy them too." Nemu replied.
"Mines? Do you know where they are?" Raka asked. He realized the importance of this magic now. Bringing a fire into the mines could have disastrous consequences. Not unlike the accidents which happen in the real world. Lightlamp was a light based magic so was much safer without the burning and the heating side effects. Or that's what he surmised based on what he had read about this element.
"Ah nearest one is about half a day from here. You can take the train. It goes straight there." She said.
'Even in the game it's called a train..eh!' Raka could not help smiling. 'Wonder who first called the train a train.' Most people would relate train to training. So calling a vehicle a train, at some point should have certainly seemed silly.
Raka kept on looking till he found some really interesting spell scrolls, 'Ability Enchants'. He read the description.
Used to add ability to equipment, weapons, armors, etc. Requires a compatible magic source. Made to order only. For details please ask.
Raka had a brainflash. 'Is it talking about options on the weapons?!' Just then,
%
You have discovered a different way to use Spell Writing.
Skill Enchant: You have discovered a skill. You can now learn how to add various abilities to objects.
Requirements: Apply Enchant successfully.
%
Wisdom has increased by 1.
%
Raka's suspicions were confirmed. He was more surprised by his Wisdom increase though.
Discovering skills was not all that it was made out to be. One could read 10 books and discover 10 skills. How many were worth learning and how many you were able to learn were different issues. Even more, how many you found useful. For example, Raka found the Massage skill was beyond the world. Whereas the Herbal Medicine skill was beyond the underworld in another sense. After all, if one could find a herb by reading a book, wouldn't life become so much simpler. Similar to if someone could learn to grow things from a book, everyone could become farmers.
Then there was the bandaging skill. Which hadn't turned out to be too useful though it still felt like it was an extremely important skill.
Deeply curious, he turned to the still frowning owner lady and asked.
"Um...could you tell me a bit about the enchant scrolls? I mean what are they used for?"
"They are used for enchanting." She replied brusquely.
Raka sighed and shook his head. Then he repeated the question to Nemu. Thankfully, she replied.
"We attach a magical core to weapons, etc to make them magical weapons. We can apply the enchants on the magical core to enhance it's properties." Nemu simply said.
Raka nodded but sighed again. She may be working at a spell scroll shop but her knowledge was highly lacking. He could not help turning around to the owner lady again.
"I am sorry but could you explain a bit more clearly. I think I will have use of one or two scrolls such as these." Raka enticed. Perhaps money would work.
"Hmm...do you even have such money. An basic enchant costs more than 10 gold." The owner lady looked him up and down and frowned a bit more.
Raka could not help sighing again. He knew he looked like a beggar. His clothes and gear were all too old and too worn out. Though, Raka kept repairing and reusing them just because of the options. And because until very recently he was poor. Now he had the money and among his to-do list was also upgrading his equipment. But he did not want to hurry things as they say.
Deciding, Raka took out a bunch of gold coins and put it on the counter. "I do have money." He said. And then immediately took back the gold coins. Though not before he saw the sparkling in the eyes of the owner lady.
Perhaps, because he was standing near Nemu who was also next to the counter, when he did this, he could feel that Nemu's hands shivered a little. But when he looked, she was still standing politely with a serene smile.
Anyways, he had achieved the desired result.
"You know spell scrolls are called such because you write the magic rules on paper. But that is just one medium. You can write it on any medium, wood, stone, etc though the effects might differ a bit. Similarly you can write those rules on a magical core. Like adding fire enchant to a fire based magic core will greatly improve the fire magic abilities on a weapon in which the core is used." The owner lady explained.
"Ah and how would you write something on a magical core? Wouldn't those be extremely small?" Raka asked. Ofcourse, he was considering magical bones and such.
"Yes, that is why enchants cannot be very complicated. Most just simply improve on the existing elemental attribute, you know increasing it's power, reducing the side effects, etc." The owner lady said.
'Hmm.. so far it seems that I guessed right. Though there is still something I can't put my finger on..'
"Hmm...ah I just remembered something. I will visit again." Raka made an excuse and left with his gold intact.
Outside, he walked as he pondered the things which were said. 'This Enchant skill sounds interesting. Though I don't have any equipment making skill. Should I still learn it?' Raka was looking at the pros and cons. As he walked the streets he also kept looking at the various shops around. This was the next thing on his agenda. Getting used to the city and knowing its various locations. Food shops, repair shops, equipment sales, warehouses, places of importance, etc.
Just then he saw a dwarf player.
"Is that...is that...a langoti?!" Raka gave one look and crashed down laughing his ass off. "HAHAHAhahahahhaha.....this is hilarious...hahahahaha!" Everyone nearby jumped after hearing his loud laughter.
The Langoti/Langot is a traditional Indian clothing. A piece of cloth worn below the waist and folded up above the knees. Well, it looks kinda like a big diaper. Not the new ones but rather the old age cloth ones. Perhaps they got the idea of diapers from langots, or vice versa, no one can be sure.
Though looking at a 4 feet dwarf wearing a langoti was just too hilarious.
"Hahahahaha...." Raka's laughter continued.
The dwarf player grimaced and then moved on.
'If the men are like this, I wonder what kind of attire the females would have...' Raka could simply imagine.
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The dwarf race had been out for two days, yet this was Swamy's first time seeing a dwarf player. Even though opening up the dwarf race created a lot of hype and lots of players said that they were going to change to this race, the ground realities were different.
Firstly, when the dwarf race opened, it was inaccessible for 24 hours owing to a system message saying that the new race was being assimilated, whatever that meant. Swamy guessed that was probably to choose the new starting locations.
Secondly, there were far too few new players. It was not like the company had 10,000 game systems in storage just waiting for the dwarf race to be unlocked. Who knew when that would be so why would any company do that! And even if they had, how could it reach the players all around the globe in just 2 days.
Thirdly, the old players who wanted to switch, had to wait atleast 24 hours for their old characters to delete. The 24 hour buffer was so that you could change your mind, if you wanted. So only the ones who were decisive had a chance to log in today. More importantly there were still a lot of other players who were actually waiting for some more information on the dwarf race to come out before switching.
And then there were two new starting locations. How many would start in Hya'cinth?
As such it was really the first time Swamy saw a dwarf player.
'Hmm...so the starter dress is a sleeveless shirt and a langot type undergarment for the males.' He noted in his notes. He closed his notebook and got ready for bed.
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The next time Raka logged in, it was another day in the game. Raka began the same old routine. Library, then hunting for information and walking the streets to find out things. But today he also decided to step out and look around the hunting grounds. After all, there was no Age barrier here.
Hya'cinth was surrounded by forests on one side, and the sea on the other. A lot of the forest was cleared to build the road and rail tracks. The rail tracks led to a mine about half a day away and carried the miners to and fro regularly. The road went on to connect the various villages and eventually led to another city Ga'cinth which was almost two weeks away.
The dwarf island was too big, therefore most dwelling places were also quite far. Rather only the villages were designed so that they would be near a city. 'Maybe in ancient times, these cities were actually forts where soldiers were concentrated.' Raka guessed. 'Then over time, people came and settled around them to be safer.'
The distance between two cities was too big. Like Ga'cinth, they were mostly 2-3 weeks away. Even if they could put in rail tracks, it would still take around a week or more to get there. The train technology was still in the initial phases after all. Reducing the time it took to reach a mine was already a huge effort worthy of praise, or atleast that's what Raka thought.
According to Kilthan, the forests around the city did not have any dangerous animals. No magical beasts or such. The top of the food chain as he called it was just a fox called Siren Fox. Mainly because it sings to attract its prey. Or rather it did have a sweet voice but it was just too weak. Even young dwarfs could kill them easily.
'Probably only new dwarf players would practice on them. Atleast I will see something different.' Raka decided to go anyway. Therefore he made his way to the other end of the city.
As he walked, Raka once again thought about whether he wanted to learn the Enchant skill. Rather he was thinking about what the owner lady had said about this skill. Even previously, when he had heard, he had a niggling feeling that something was odd. Though he wasn't able to put a finger on what was odd.
He had just reached the gate when he had a brainflash.
'Oh so that was it! She didn't tell me everything.'
A good liar lies very less. A great liar never does. Now that everything became clear, Raka could find several holes in the owner lady's explanations. For example, she said that only simple enchants can be done. What kind of simple enchants would allow Strength or Agility or Focus to increase? If it were really simple, wouldn't everyone have them tattooed on themselves? After all, humans or dwarfs were still considered magical creatures containing magical energy!
She also said that enchants mostly enhanced the property of the magic core. Again, what kind of magic core would have these kinds of abilities? Weren't they just energy storage? Even if they had affinity towards some elements!
Or rather if enchants were possible and acted the way he thought they did, then what about the options he gained when he created things?! Like those mirrors he gifted. Did he enchant them unknowingly because he had put in magical energy and that's why they had options?
'But I didn't put in any energy when I built the house....so is it just the game system or a part of magic?'
He knew he was thinking the right things. Just that he didn't have enough information to arrive at a conclusion.
As he reached the gate, he was stopped by the guards who asked for his papers.
"Where would you be heading?" A armor wearing dwarf asked.
"Just a bit around the forest, then I will come back." Raka answered.
The guard nodded and let him go.
Raka followed the road for a while and then snuck into the forest. Even though Kilthan had said that there was nothing dangerous, being prudent couldn't hurt. He carefully walked in always ready with his staff. His Sensitivity had improved by over 20 points recently and it gave a completely new feeling when he walked.
His vision was clearer and his hearing sharper. As he walked he could hear the crunch beneath his feet and the bird calls of several birds around. Sometimes he would hear a rustling but as he would turn to look, the animal would just hiddenly run away. Sometimes he could see various black birds caw-cawing like crows. 'Crows can't be this big can they?!'
But still he found nothing which attacked him. Most were scared of him and as he approached, took the option of flight. A few didn't run but also didn't move to bother him. Like the orange frogs he saw hiding in leaves which had a streak of orange running in between.
As Raka walked further in, the woods started to get denser and he had to often move some shrubbery or branches to move ahead. Just then,
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Confusion! Your mental state has changed to confused. The effect will last 30 seconds.
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Raka stared at this message. 'What does it mean I am confused? I feel alright....' And then the sky fell. Raka thought he had turned on his head just now. The ground was now up and the sky below his feet. And then he saw the trees and they were also hanging upside down.
'What's going on?' Raka wondered. But then,
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You have died. As penalty, you will not be able to log in for 24 hours.
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'Eh! What the hell is going on?!!'