As I adjusted to the virtual world. I was greeted by the familiar blackness of the intermission between sleep state, patiently waiting for the countdown to end.
however, a wisp of purple shot passed my formless body, leaving a trail, like a plane in the sky. As I was trying to understand what it was, a blue wisp followed after it, then a red one and a yellow one. Until every colour shot past me and danced together in the black void, impossibly far away. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the silent dance. Until they collided together and burst into a blinding white light.
Once the light faded away, I turned back to see an amazing sight. A starry night sky, filled with nebulas and distant constellations. I was slightly confused as to why I was seeing this.
Unlike most games, 'Realms' didn't have classes, but it had something called paths. A path was a direction your character would take in life. For example, in my previous life, my path was a martial master. Which meant I followed the path of battle and slaughter.
So, having a dream wasn't the confusing part. It was the meaning that was the confusing part of things. Most of the time, you can tell the path by the content of the dream, but I can't for the life of me work out what this meant. Unless it had something to do with space and the stars. But that was even more confusing.
Pulling myself out of my mind, I noticed that the dream had come to an end, and I was still in the tree that I had fallen asleep in. Thankful that I hadn't fallen out of the tree during the night.
The first thing I noticed was the notification window floating in front of me.
[Path of the Elementalist]
An Elementalist is someone who controls the powers of the world. Harnesses them and bends them to their will, as if it were second nature to them. Comprehension of elements increased by 300%. Comprehension of all other magic reduced by 50%. The power of elements increased by 50%. The casting cost of elemental spells reduced by 30%.
[Path of the Fledgling Arcanist]
An Arcanist is someone who understands the secrets of the world and sees the fabric of reality itself. You, however, are just a child on this path. Comprehension of all magic increased by 50%. The casting cost of spells increased by 15%. Becomes hypersensitive to both magic and mana.
After carefully reading through each path, I could see the benefits of both. Being an Elementalist means wielding immense power. If you were to follow this path, you could gain enough power to control the weather and even create natural disasters. It was powerful to say the least.
While that sounds and is amazing. It would also mean that the effort I went to avoid collecting random spells would have been for nothing.
The reasons for most of my actions since my rebirth and simple logic say that I should go with the path of the Arcanist. Even if it means that I will become hypersensitive to mana and magic, which would be a good and bad thing. I would be able to sense magic better than my current skills allow. But it also meant that spells that affect a person, like sleep spells, would be extra effective on me.
But the comprehension of all magic is too good to pass up. Even if the rest of the path includes a lot of negatives. But nothing easy is worth doing, at least, that's what people always say.
Choosing the [Path of the Arcanist] I felt no chance whatsoever. That was until I got a mind-splitting headache, which luckily, only lasted for a moment before subsiding.
*Ping*
[Mana sense Level: 5]
You were naturally born with the ability to sense, see and feel magic. Sometimes, you swear that you can see and hear things that others can't.
*Ping*
[Mana Hypersensitivity: level Max]
You find that you are sensitive to magic, being naturally occurring or created. If you lose control over your senses, you feel that it would be enough to lose yourself in the overpowering presence.
While the description left a lot to be desired. The constant thrum of the world and the very faint wisps of what looked like air were enough to explain what the combination of the skills did.
Mana hypersensitivity wasn't a skill that you could usually get or want. In fact, it was usually a side effect when you spent too much time in a high mana-concentrated area, which is lethal to most mortals. It was a bit like radiation poisoning, in essence, something that you really don't want. But unlike the side effect you receive from being exposed, this skill is permanent. I just hoped that it wouldn't impact me too much, or it would be game over.
Still, it wasn't all bad. I wondered what it would be like when I levelled mana sense to max, seeing as that skill was even influenced by mana hypersensitivity. I might be the first player to see the world of magic that only creatures like high elves can see.
But putting that out of my mind, as my breakfast seemed to have wandered under the tree, I was still in. A single, small grey rabbit. It was slowly hopping around, munching on the mildew grass below.
The only problem was how to catch it. If I were to jump from up here, I'd either miss or completely destroy the corpse. Magic was out of the question, simply because the only offensive spell I knew would blow it to bits and leave a fine crimson veneer on the forest floor.
So, I once again drew on my own skills, rather than unfounded skills that the game had given me. In particular, I retrieved a short bow that I had stored away and nearly forgot about.
Thankfully, my uncle used to take me hunting as a child. He favoured a bow instead of a rifle when he hunted as he usually went turkey hunting.
That being said, it has been a long time since he last took me hunting as his brother, my dad didn't see eye to eye with him. And because he lived abroad, I had all but lost contact with him. And even in my old life, I hadn't seen him and presumed he had died.
Knocking an arrow, as quietly as I could, pulled back on the bowstring and controlled my breathing. Patiently waiting for my little prey to come into clearer view. Then, I simply let the tension of the string pull the arrow towards its mark.
With a quick whistle of the wind, a dull thunk and a squeak of my prey. Breakfast was served.
Hopping down from the tree, I quickly collected my kill and began to dress it and made a small campfire, with help from my [Flame control]
My breakfast wasn't the most gourmet, but it was hot and filled the hole. Though it was a bit too chewy and gamey for my liking, so I didn't think I would be making it a habit to hunt the local wildlife.
It didn't take long to find the road from yesterday. The first thing I noticed when I first reached the road, I saw old signs of fighting. Even though the road was a packed dirt road, you could easily make out the scuff marks and heavy boot prints, typical signs of a melee. That, and the dried blood that stained the road.
There weren't any bodies, even for all the blood. But the beasties that hunt at night would have had a free dinner and taken the bodies away. Leaving what little traces remain in the morning to be washed away with the rain.
However, as it hadn't rained, you could see that at least three people lost their lives there and a group of four people ran the way I intended to head. The rest seemed to have retreated into the forest opposite the way I made camp. If I had to draw any assumptions, I would say that the party that fled down my path, were the ones that were ambushed. However, they managed to kill some of their would-be assassins, and then sped away, probably because of one of them was wounded. And seeing as their attackers lost some of their group, they gave up the chase and retreated.
At least, that's the narrative that fits in my mind, and would fit the scene that was in front of my eyes.
Taking my eyes away from the carnage, I headed down the way towards Novrad. I knew that I ran the possibility of running into the group that was attacked. I hoped that if I did, they wouldn't be hostile to a lone traveller, as it would be difficult to defend myself against a party of adventurers.
By midday, the forest broke away into grassland and small, rolling hills. Having stopped by one of the last trees, I broke out some dried meat for my lunch and sat under its shade, to enjoy the pleasant breeze that rolled through the open space.
While I was chewing on the salty, tough jerky, I scanned the grassland as best I could. I wanted to see if I could spot any traces of the group that came through here not long ago, just in case they weren't the friendliest of people, as I wanted to be prepared in the worst-case scenario.
However, this grassland had plenty of hills that obscured most of the horizon. Even from where I sat, all I could see were hills on both sides, obscuring most of my view ahead. But the sight of smoke rising off the one side, caught my eye. However, to my eyes, it looked like the typical campfire, but the strange thing was how early in the day it was, not to mention how tall the smoke climbed.
And after I finished my lunch, I decided to check it out. well, only what I could see from the top of the hill, which is. And what I saw was indeed a campfire, however, the people around it wasn't camping. From what I could see, I couldn't make out why they made the smoke so high, I didn't think it was to signal someone, but that only leaves the question of why? However, they were at least a mile away and I could barely make anything out. So, my question would go without answer, for now at least.
From this hill, I could see for miles and the only landmark I could see was the campfire, so I decided to look as I decided it was best to introduce myself rather than be taken for an assassin in the middle of the night.