Chapter 2: The outside world
Upon entering the woods, the path narrowed but remained spaciously wide for a solitary walker. On either side, the trees reminded Shiro of those he had seen around his home in England.
𝘈 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘢𝘯? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮 – 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.
To either side, the trees and undergrowth hid many small animals and insects that he couldn't identify. It all sounded a lot more filled with life than the woods he was used to, and he didn't know if this was the case or if his hearing had improved.
When the time reached 08:30, he arrived at a small lake and took a break from walking to look out over it. It had a population of ducks, and reeds grew thickly on the bank nearest the road.
Unsure of himself, Shiro looked back over his user interface (UI) to see if he had missed anything, and he had not. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 – 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺.
A duck swam close to the shore, and it appeared on his UI as a level 1 creature. Closing his UI, Shiro had to admit he was slightly disappointed. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 0. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 – 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘵.
𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘜𝘐 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯; 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 '𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥' 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘴. He tried chasing after a few other animals and going up against trees with the UI.
Unfortunately, it would only identify creatures, not plants, and all were well within level 3. The most common level Shiro saw was level 1. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨? He wasn't sure, but with his knife out, he felt confident enough to take on a rabbit and set out to hunt.
Before finding his first prey, hidden in a clearing within some undergrowth, he bagged a few berries along the way but wouldn't dare eat them. The rabbit was a mix of black and white, and Shiro cornered it between him and a tall rock.
Once it decided he was close enough to be a threat, it tried to escape by running between his legs, and he barely managed to plunge the knife down and stab it in time. Because of where he had stabbed it, the fur was rendered useless, and liquids from inside ruptured organs polluted the meat.
𝘖𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵.
Inside the open wound, he spotted a circle of green. It was only visible for a second before being hidden by all the red, but it still took his interest.
Taking a moment, he tried to fish for it with his knife, succeeding only in bloodying the carcass further before stuffing his hand into the warm mess of blood and flesh in search of what he had seen. Successfully pulling it out, it looked like a spherical green gem, small enough to swallow.
Examining it under different lights, the colour fluctuated between green and yellow, much like it was a Minecraft experience orb. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵. Shiro pocketed it before washing his hand in the lake, disappointed that his UI couldn't make the orb yield its secrets either.
He returned to hunting, failing miserably on most attempts and only getting hold of one reasonable-condition rabbit. None of the prey dropped any green orbs, so he assumed that the orbs were held inside of them. Given that they seemed quite plentiful, he didn't bother fishing them out because of the mess it would make.
Some other people joined him, and he went further up the road looking for a new spot. 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳-𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵? 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘶𝘱 – 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳?
Later, the green orb disappeared from his pocket. Shiro was sure he hadn't dropped it because he checked all over the area where he had felt its weight leave him. He didn't search for it long, though, quickly giving up on the item he didn't know what to do with.
Even so, the orb's disappearance act had piqued his curiosity. When he next killed a different rabbit after a short chase that ended with him cornering and stabbing it against a thick, bristly rose bush, he held back any discomfort at the smells or hygiene and tore into it.
Sure enough, deep inside the rabbit was a small green orb. Remembering exactly how long it had taken for the first to disappear, Shiro placed it deep into his pocket and went on his way, keeping a hand on it. After the same length of time, which he discovered to be thirty minutes, thanks to his UI clock, the new orb disappeared.
Sighing, he made another kill and fished out this new rabbit's orb. So far, the orbs had all looked the same, and he got as little out of this one as he had the first. He tried crushing it in his hand but failed, and he tried pressing it on his chest but got no reaction. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵….
Shiro held it to his eyes again before cautiously lowering it in front of his mouth. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? He was satisfied enough with the cleanliness of the orb and sat it on his tongue, but it did nothing and tasted bland.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥; 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. Shiro cursed himself again when the orb changed shape and ran down his throat despite his efforts to fish it back out or throw it up. There was a brief moment of panic when he felt it was taking up his whole throat and that he couldn't breathe before it passed through and into his stomach.
He fell to his knees, retching violently, but only managed to sick out stomach acid until realising he couldn't feel it inside him anymore. Wiping away the puke from his mouth, he opened his UI, wanting to see if anything had changed about his character traits.
He was now level 1 and had a choice of places to spend a level-up point.
𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 1 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. Shiro scrolled down a long list of specialisms but only had a fraction of them unlocked for viewing. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦?
Many of the specialisms were familiar from video games, and early ones included knights, healers, farmers, and so on. However, the first to make him pause, and the one he kept going back to, was 'circus master'.
The description was odd, saying that the 'circus master' focused on the bizarre and trickery. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦? He couldn't, so he glanced at other strange classes, such as 'parasite', but didn't feel a connection with them.
𝘈 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘺? 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘦 – 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘌𝘩, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.
Shiro picked 'circus master', and a breakdown of his levelling appeared below his overall level 1, but it only had circus master level 1 at this time. He didn't feel any different and couldn't find any way to access skills or the like from the UI, so he went back to walking with disappointment.
The time was getting on for 10:40, so he decided to return to Hallen, hoping that other people would have gotten their bearings a bit more. Along the way, he took a more direct route and leapt between a pair of boulders to bypass a long turn in the road.
When Shiro did, he thought his jumping abilities – no, all aspects of his agility – were slightly improved. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴, he sulked; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.
Weekly Power Status
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