The first thing I saw upon waking up was a large cluster of trees. It was a bit dark, but the light created a beautiful image as it reflected on the leaves of the trees, illuminating the right spots.
Everything was somewhat strange. I did not remember anything, no past nor any event that had happened for me to end up here.
I planted my foot firmly on the ground, properly feeling the soil before taking a step and then another. Slowly, I began to walk and get used to my movement, almost as if it were the first time I was doing it.
And then at least a dozen steps later...
''What the fuck-?''
[Welcome, Vesper.]
[Do not bother trying to interact with me, this is a pre-recorded message.]
[This message will explain some basic things that you need to know before starting your life.]
[First. The place you are in at the moment is a kind of tutorial, a beginning for you to get used to everything available to you before you start truly living.]
[Second. You have a simple Mission: Explore, Experience, Learn. Whatever word you want to use, everything will boil down to a single thing: living. And for that, all the places you visit will have problems, and in the vast majority of cases, they will be places that are beyond conventional repair.]
[Third. The reason you have this Mission and the way this Message appears is due to a kind of 'power' that you have and received early on at birth. In a big summary, you have the [Repair System]. To know more about this, say -System- out loud at any moment after the end of this recording.]
[You must find this Message sudden and the explanation insufficient, maybe even crude or poorly made, but this is the most that can be given to you without interfering with your freedom. Even providing you with a Life Mission was already something serious enough that it risked breaking your purpose of existing (Living freely), so as your Future companion, I ask for apologies in advance.
That said, good luck, and I will always be here with you during your trials. See you later.]
And just like that, the strange floating Window disappeared without even letting me form a single thought.
Man...what a good day.
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3rd POV
Minutes passed, and Vesper remained standing still staring at the Air, until he was no longer standing still.
He put his hands on his face and knelt, breathing deeply and letting out all the Air that was inside his Lungs, and then stood up.
''Alright...let's make this work!'' He shouted to himself in a moment of self-motivation, raising his arms toward the sky covered by leaves.
''System..?'' With a bit of hesitation, Vesper spoke the keyword that had been told to him during the pre-recorded message, and then, without any delay, a new floating window appeared in front of him.
[Name: {Vesper}] - Star of the Night
[Age: {15}]
[Race: {Human}] - An untouched potential over a common and nothing special Species, your Human Essence mixes and peculiarly interacts with other Essences.
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[Level: 1] - The source of your BEING, the more you experience OR steal experiences, the more it will rise and provide rewards to strengthen yourself.
[Spirit: 0] - Increases your Mastery over Spiritual Energy and your amount of Spiritual Energy.
[Magic: 0] - Increases your Magical 'knowledge'[1], Mana capacity, and potential control over Magic.
[Strength: 0] - Increases your athleticism and fortifies your physical attributes along with your Martial Mastery.
[Weapons: 0] - Increases your 'experience'[2] using Weapons, affinity with Weapons, and strengthens your overall Intuition.
[Status Points: 0] - You gain 4X more Points than the Norm.
-----
[Talents: 4] / [Skills: 0]
[Light] - Something in you abnormally resonates with Light, awakening something that should not even exist.
[Determined] - You have Determination in Potential to be used, should reasons arise.
[Curious Learner] - Your Learning Potential is Vast, allowing you to learn anything. The weaker you are in relation to what you want to learn, the longer it will take to learn.
[Repair System] - A source of Information linked to the unluckiest Universes where they experienced their worst versions. Fated to encounter only Bad results, a chance of Repair comes from the Outside to hElP the Target Universe.
-----
The information that should have been excessive for a first reading was actually quite easy for Vesper to absorb, making him not spend much time staring at the floating Window.
''Hmmm...I confess that seeing this kind of information for some reason made me excited, but I have no idea why. Probably something involving the space missing in my memories?'' He ran a hand over his neck, shifting his gaze to the Attributes.
''Zero in everything and Level 1. You do not need to be a Genius to know that I am absurdly weak, maybe the weakest living thing.'' With a slight smile, Vesper shook his head negatively.
''Nah...not that much, I think I can beat a lizard if it does not go past ten centimeters.'' He nodded proudly.
''For all my Status to be at the lowest possible and my Level to talk about Experience, maybe the reason I am so weak is my lack of memories? Without my memories, I do not have the experience, and consequently, I do not have the benefits of having a high level. His eyes shone as he felt somewhat intelligent for reaching this conclusion.
Clapping his hands together, Vesper closed the floating Window before stretching his back and starting to move north.
''There are not many other forms of interaction in the System, so the rest I will have to learn the hard way.''
And so, Vesper walked out into the Forest in search of what he would need to do in this 'Tutorial'.
-----
It was not hard to deduce what to do, or at least have a 'base' of where to start. At least not after being lost for long enough to discover that the Light never went out and it never became night in this place.
What happened was that after enough time passed, the Rays of Light that went through the leaves began to move and guide Vesper on what to do. Initially, it was a step, like a marker showing where he should step so as not to hurt his Foot in an area with tall grass, then it evolved into more concrete instructions.
Such as what was happening now.
''Hmmm'' Vesper was staring at a Tree trunk that was being illuminated by a strong yellow light. Or rather, a specific Region of the Tree trunk was being illuminated.
An icon of Scissors appeared and began to follow the outline line on the trunk.
''You want me to detach this piece of the tree? With what? My hands?'' He asked skeptically.
The Drawing of the Light Scissors changed to a Human hand that gave him a Thumbs Up, confirming what he had said.
''Sigh, what am I doing with my life...First, I wake up without memories, and now I am about to follow the idea of a drawing of LIGHT to break wood with my hand.''
Stretching his shoulders, Vesper planted his feet on the Ground before punching the wood in the suggested region.
Just before the moment of impact, the light of the marker shot toward Vesper's hand, covering it with a kind of aura, and then his Fist made a loud thud.
The surface of the Trunk cracked in very specific areas.
''? How the hell-'' Vesper stared at his Fist that was not hurting and then looked again at the cracked Region of the Trunk.
''Is this what the Light Talent does? I get imaginary friends, and they make me hit others harder? Because if so, I loved it.'' A mischievous smile appeared on Vesper's face, and then, he punched the Trunk again.
And again. And again. And again. And again. (x30)
Until finally, a perfectly usable piece of the tree trunk was available to him.
[You gained EXP]
A System message appeared and disappeared at the same speed at the moment the trunk stopped rolling on the ground.
''Knocking down a trunk also counts as Experience gained? Or is it this little light power?'' He muttered to himself before deciding to test again.
He approached the fallen Trunk and then joined both hands together.
''My dear new imaginary friends, please guide me on what the hell I do with this log of wood, because if it depends on me, we are fucked.'' He said with his eyes closed before the light that surrounded the fortified fist left his fist and went straight to the Log of Wood on the ground.
And from there, a series of new outlines was made.
''Thank you~'' And so Vesper began to work.
END
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The dialogues may be a bit strange, but I believe they should start improving soon.
I confess that writing natural dialogues is quite a challenging experience; I broke my head a lot. The version you are seeing is infinitely better than the first ones, lol.
Hopefully, by the Beginning of the First World War, everything should be more natural. And speaking about the First World, I am more inclined toward Dark Souls 1 than anything else at the moment.
If you have any suggestions about a World OR about places to learn more about the lore of DS1, I am accepting :v
That said, have a good day! <3'
[1] It does not mean that he will learn Magic just by increasing this Attribute's Level, but rather that it will further loosen his mental restraints, allowing him to think more outside the box. All the studying parts and many others will still have to be done.
[2] The same thing that applies to the Magical Attribute applies to this Attribute as well.