I stowed the maps carefully into my inventory and opened the system's menu to send a text message through the weave to Tommy, Kaede, Aspen, and Bob on a shared conversation.
Alyss Aetheryn: 'I got some maps, but we might be in different worlds depending on our races. I suppose meeting won't be easy. Do we still see each other in a week?'
Tommy answered nearly instantly.
Thomas Awesome: 'Different worlds you say? What does that mean ?'
Alyss Aetheryn: 'That means we won't be able to get together just by walking. We'll need some kind of teleportation to cross worlds, and it's expensive.'
Thomas Awesome: 'How expensive ?.
Lone Willow: 'Are we going to ignore how he named his character ?'
Thomas Awesome: 'I don't think you've got anything on me, edge lord.'
Robart Alebeard: 'Got similar info. What races are you playing? Made an Iron Dwarf, strong and sturdy!'
Lone Willow: 'Demonkin, Shadowborn.'
Thomas Awesome: 'Wow.'
Alyss Aetheryn: 'Spire Elf, I'm in Elvenheim.'
Maple Sharpleaf: 'I'm playing Beastkin, Catfolk. Tom, how about you tell us your race instead of making fun of my brother ?'
Thomas Awesome: 'I'm sorry, cat-girl sama, please accept this lowly human's most humble apologies.'
Maple Sharpleaf: 'The idiot and I are both in Midgard. I think all of you are in different worlds. How about we try to meet in the Human capital then?'
Robart Alebeard: 'How much are we talking about to teleport there?'
Alyss Aetheryn: 'I was told 50 gold coins, that's 50 000 copper. There trade caravans that may hire escorts, but we'll need to be strong enough for that.'
Thomas Awesome: Sh***t! I've only earned 50 coppers today by selling rabbit pelts. I got a few level-ups, but I'm still with my starting gear. Monsters don't drop money or equipment, only what you'd logically find on their bodies. Fur, skin, bones, teeth... and you need a skill to harvest them properly...'
Robart Alebeard: 'Drank a few beers with fellow Dwarves players. They chose the race for the bonus to mining and forging skills. They were already celebrating that most items will need to be crafted. Only humanoids monsters drop their gear. I don't have money anymore, by the way. Earned a specialty that improves all alcoholic drinks related buffs, I'm not sure if that's going to be useful...'
Maple Sharpleaf: 'A specialty? What's that. I didn't hear about it yet.'
Alyss Aetheryn: 'I got one too, mana shaping, I like it. I asked an NPC. It wasn't very clear, but I think specialties are prerequisites for advanced classes. I got mine by experimenting with my basic spells. I think you just need to practice specific things, and you'll get yours. I'm just wondering, how long did you spend in that tavern Bob?
Robart Alebeard: '...'
Thomas Awesome: 'Keep in touch if you find anything that could help with the teleportation problem. I'll rent the bar node for next week same time as this morning. The price skyrocketed since the game launched, I don't understand why. I still have enough weave credits, but not for a third time if it keeps getting more expensive.'
Lone Willow: 'Noted.'
Maple Sharpleaf: 'Ok, will be there.'
Robart Alebeard: 'Same here, tell me if you need help to pay for the lobby kid'
Alyss Aetheryn: 'I'll tell you if I find anything interesting.'
I closed the chat window. It was still night, most shops were closed, the street was quiet for the first time since I arrived in the game world. The moonlight was shining, bright enough for me to see as if it was day. Dazzling stars were filling the dark night sky, shining like millions of diamonds. I took a deep breath, feeling the chilly wind on my skin. It was easy to see why the weave had become the new reality. Even before the war, it was impossible to find anywhere still like that on Earth. I didn't have much to do right. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to go get a few levels.
I made my way to the town's gates. The large wooden doors were closed. A guard was standing next to a smaller frame, visibly bored out of his mind. I went to him, motioned him that I wanted to get out. He shrugged and opened the door, not caring in the least why I was going outside.
"You won't to able to get back inside until morning. You know that ?"
I nodded dismissively and stepped outside. In front of me was a long winding road running into plains and hills as far as I could see. A was hopping here and there, grazing on the high herbs that grew there. I examined the small critter, it was level 0, just like me. I got a little closer and aimed carefully, sending a simple mana bolt toward it.
'-15!'
The fluffy bunny turned around, its eyes red. It ran toward me, charging like a cute hornless little white bull. It headbutted me in the leg before I could cast another spell.
'-10!'
I barely felt the impact. I didn't care too much about the few hp I lost and cast another bolt, killing the rabbit.
'Ding! You killed a white rabbit. Earned 10 xp.'
My xp bar appeared at the edge of my field of view, filled by 10%.
I followed the road, taking my time. There weren't many monsters along it, only a few rabbits here and there. I sent intensified mana bolts each time I saw one, killing it in one shot. I walked aimlessly for a few hours. At some point, normal rabbits were replaced by a horned version called Almiraj that was level 1. I didn't take chances, not wanting to get headbutted again after seeing the long spiraled horn on their heads, and cast mana bolts using four times the mana amount to kill them.
I stopped after a few hours, I found and killed around 15 rabbits and 20 Almiraj.
'Ding! Level up! You are now level 1. +5 stat points'
'Ding! Level up! You are now level 2. +5 stat points'
Alyss Aetheryn: Lv 2
HP: 75/75 (+7.5/min ~ 0.125/s)
SP: 75/75 (+30/min ~ 0.5/s)
MP: 200/200 (+21/min ~ 0.35/s)
Str:5 Agi:20 Sta:15 Int:40 Wil:20 Cha:10
Spd: 11
Spells:
Mana Bolt (20mp): Shoot a mana bolt in a straight line. Deals Int/2 (20) force damage. Cast time 1s
Mana Shield (40 mp): Conjure a mana disc acting as a shield. Absorbs Int/2 (20) damage before breaking. Cast time 0.5s
Equipment: (Attunement 1/10)
Apprentice robe (1): Increase mana regeneration by 1/min
I spent all the points right away on intelligence, improving my mana pool and my spells' damage. I didn't think there was much of a point in saving them. The faster I got stronger, the faster I could progress.
It was a waste to leave their corpses like this, but I didn't even have a knife to skin them or cut their horn. I thought for a moment and made and conjured a ball of mana in my hand. I tried to shape it in the form of a blade, focusing on its edge, making it as sharp as possible. The small blade, barely a few inches long, was hovering in my palm, without a handle. I knew I could just throw it like a mana bolt, but it wasn't what I wanted. I focused again, adding a handle to the blade, making a makeshift knife.
The knife was still floating around, I willed it into my hand, but it stayed hovering. I shot it toward the ground and knelt to pick it up, but it was already disappearing in motes of blue light. I conjured another one, each knife taking approximately 30 MP. I held my palm upward, letting it hover, and picked it up with my other hand. It wasn't convenient, I needed to keep the casting hand under it, but at least I could move it and apply pressure. I cut the horn of the last almiraj I killed that was still lying there, spending more mana to keep the knife around.
'Ding! New spell discovered: Mana knife. Create a knife made of mana that can be used as a general-purpose knife.'
'Ding! Skill unlocked: Disassembling. You've learned to disassemble the prey you've hunted to gather useful materials.'
I checked the details of the spell and skills:
Spells:
Mana knife (30mp + 10mp per minute until dismissed): Summon a mana knife that can be used for menial tasks or combat. Deals 1/2 (20) Int damage, cast time 3 s
Lifeskills
Disassembling (lv 0): Allows you to disassemble the bodies of monsters and guides your hands to get materials. Reduces damage to the materials obtained by disassembling by 10%.
I closed the panel, quite happy to have found a solution to my problem, walking back toward the town. I wasn't that far anymore, seeing the spire in the distance maybe 5 km away when I heard the sound of galloping horses coming from behind me.