…
….
Jeb sat up with a gasp, his hand immediately going to his head.
No pain. He felt fine. Better than before actually. He could see little spirits of small forest creatures flitting back and forth, fairies staring at him quizzically, weird snake things swimming through the air in the upper branches of the canopy, gently brushing the leaves aside like an errant gust of wind. It might have actually been a gust of wind.
The trees seemed to have faces. Not faces, faces, but he could definitely read their mood. They weren’t big fans of the fire.
Jeb glanced over at the fire, and noticed it was out, having exhausted all of its fuel.
There was a tickle under his nose, and Jeb idly wiped at it, coming away with a hand covered in blood.
To his horror, he discovered that his brand-new brigandine had been covered in blood from a monster nosebleed. Tracing the wetness upward, he noticed a track where tears of blood had rolled down his cheeks from his eyes.
“Goddamn,” Jeb muttered, groaning as he pushed himself to his feet.
He grabbed a washcloth from the supply bin, dipped it and wiped his face and armor off with cool water, all the while glancing around the suddenly wondrous and magical forest.
Was this all here, and I couldn’t see it? Jeb thought to himself, watching silvery droplets form on the tree's leaves before falling to the ground like a gentle rain, evaporating up into the white mist that seemed to penetrate everything.
There were weird bug things that seemed to prey on each other. One of them with a thick carapace and crushing mandibles lunged out of the tree above him to pounce on one that was sipping on a little silver pool on the ground.
“These things aren’t monsters are they?” They looked pretty aggressive, but when Jeb tried to poke them with his sword, the sword simply went through them, and they ignored him completely.
Well, okay then.
I guess we gotta deal with the fairy in the room, Jeb thought, eyeing the half dozen or so winged people who watched him from the safety of the tree.
“I know this is a long shot, but do you guys understand English?” Jeb asked, looking straight at them.
They glanced at each other and pointed at Jeb, then to themselves, seemingly debating something. Then they shrugged and one of them flew down and waved its tiny little hand in front of Jeb’s eyeballs.
Jeb flinched backwards.
“Holy crap, he can see us!” the creature shouted, voice high pitched as you’d expect.
The other five insect-winged people flitted down to him and began performing their own tests, tracking his eyes movement, poking at his sensitive bits. There didn’t seem to be anything malicious to it, like a doctor assessing a patient’s condition.
“Full physical integration. His Myst must be above twelve.”
“I can hear you too.” Jeb said, gently brushing one of them away from his eyes.
“Astounding. The nutter must have dumped all his points into Myst.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Jeb said. “You can talk to me instead of at me, you know.”
They flew away from him and whispered to each other in hushed tones, before seemingly deciding on something.
One of them flew away, while the other five hovered in the air in front of him, their arms crossed.
“Human, you find yourself in the presence of greatness. We are the Mossy-oak-in-the-clearing clan, and given the proper tribute, we would be gracious enough to allow you to stay in our demesne for the time being. Perhaps given a humble enough entreat, we would be willing to sell you useful information.”
Jeb glanced at the mossy oak in the center of the clearing, then over to the MRE’s he’d stacked next to it.
“You guys like M&M’s?”
***Later***
“Sweet Ambrosia!” the leader of the Mossy Oak clan moaned, eyes rolling back in his skull before shoving an entire M&M into his mouth. Their previous haughtiness forgotten, the entire clan gorged themselves on a single handful of the candy-coated chocolates, laying on the grass, moaning with painfully distended bellies.
The individual candies barely fit in the creature’s mouths, but that didn’t stop them from trying. They went bananas for it.
He still had two thirds of the bag left in its original container. A tiny snack for a human was enough to feed a clan of fairies three times over.
“I’m glad you like it,” Jeb said, holding the bag aloft and swinging it back and forth. The fairy’s oversized eyes followed the treats like a hungry dog. “I was actually considering parting with a few more of these, but I want something in exchange.
“Anything!” The head fairy shouted, dropping to his knees, his lips smudged with chocolate. “Anything you need, great dispenser of M&M’s! Do you want my son’s life!? I’ll happily sacrifice him to you, M&M-Lord, but for one more taste of that heavenly concoction!”
Whoah, that’s a little intense.
“What would I need- “ Jeb rubbed his eyebrow. “Answer me these questions three, and receive an M&M…free.”
“Of course, of course.” The leader of the fairies said, nodding and rubbing his hands together gleefully. “Ask, ask!”
“How do I level up?” Jeb asked.
“When two creatures engage each other in a life or death struggle, the System takes note, and awards the victor a share of the defeated creature’s Fate. Once the User has accrued a certain amount, they level up.”
“So, standard RPG rules.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Jeb said, shaking his head. “What are the rewards for leveling?”
“An Ability Point.” The fairy said, beginning to salivate.
So I got the equivalent of fifteen levels at the beginning of the test and it’s still considered impossible? Goddamn, this is gonna be tough.
“How do I beat this tutorial?” Jeb asked.
“By defeating the World Tortoise, of course,” the fairy said, gleefully
