Keiran and Concordia were in a rocky land that was very windy.
"So what do we do now?" Concordia asked.
"RPGs usually have tutorials and things of the like. We should probably go through ours" Keiran suggested.
"Didn't know you were a gamer" Concordia said.
"Aside from a certain tale about time, this is the only other MMORPG I've played. I tend to play more of offline games" Keiran said.
Keiran accessed his menu and a screen popped up. He checked the tutorials.
"The first level of this game is the Caveman Level. Beginning from the moment this message terminates, your HP is going to gradually begin to diminish but don't worry, if your HP does hit zero, you'll just have to replay this level" the message said and ended.
"That's all?! No clues on how to survive this level?! That's some dumb tutorial. Dad and Mom would never slack off in design!" Concordia complained.
"Actually" Keiran rubbed his head while laughing nervously, "I think this is my Dad's doing" he said.
"What?! Why would he do that?!" Concordia asked.
"Well, his method of training goes more along the Zen style. He tends to guide you with clues but will never directly tell you the solution to your problem" Keiran admitted.
Concordia sighed.
"Well, in every RPG, there are recovery items and things of the like" Concordia said.
"If you think about it deeply, a lot of our clues are actually in the game's backstory" Keiran said.
"What do you mean?" Concordia asked.
"Our ultimate goal is to reconnect the continents. To do this, we must rediscover and develop all the necessary tools from scratch and the first level of the game is ironically entitled 'The Caveman Level'" Keiran said with a laugh.
Concordia had a funny expression on her face.
"Your Dad sure has a sense of humour doesn't he?" she said.
"To sustain our HP, we're going to have to hunt for recovery items periodically. This is the 'Hunting and Gathering' stage" Keiran explained.
"First, we should secure shelter. If weather conditions have been encoded into the game as well, we need shelter from adverse weather conditions. It could also serve as a storage facility for the recovery items we gather" Concordia said.
"Leave that to me" Keiran said as he stretched his hands forward.
A hollowed out rectangular block of earth arose from the ground. Keiran roofed it.
"Voila! We have a house now!" Keiran said as he made the symbol for victory with his hands.
Concordia had an impressed look in her eyes.
"You've got to teach me how to do that!" she said.
Keiran smiled.
"You should be able to do this. After all, you transformed your arrows from wood to steel" he said.
"I can make minor alterations to my sigil's elemental composition as well as alter its form but I'm not very good at raw elemental control" Concordia admitted.
"I see. You're the type that channels their elemental affinities through their sigils" Keiran realized.
Concordia nodded.
"Everything in its time and place. For now at the very least, we have our shelter" Keiran said.
"Let's check our stats" Concordia suggested.
Keiran agreed and they both opened their stats screen.
"How are your stats Concordia?" Keiran asked.
"My HP is still full. So is my MP and my stats are currently neutral. What of you?" Concordia asked.
"My HP is full, my stats are normal but…my MP appears to have been partially depleted" Keiran said.
"It must have been from creating our shelter. HP corresponds to physical health. MP corresponds to mental health. You need mental stamina to utilize techniques. You must have depleted some of your mental strength when you created this shelter" Concordia noted.
"So we need recovery items for both our physical and mental stamina?" Keiran asked.
Concordia nodded.
"In RPGs, don't you usually regain both after taking a nap in an inn?" Keiran asked.
"Except for the fact that you don't begin most RPGs with HP that begins to deplete from the beginning. Usually, such things are caused by stat debuffs" Concordia explained.
"I see. In real life, you do need a regular supply of healthy food to survive. We're always basically living on a countdown to our next meal" Keiran realized.
"So what's the plan?" Concordia asked.
"First, we seek out fruits especially categories of fruits that have seeds. We can replant the seeds. We also need to find animal food sources that can produce food without necessarily having to be killed first" Keiran said.
"Why is that?" Concordia asked.
"Judging from the backstory of the game, we need such things for the next level of the game which is Subsistence Farming" Keiran said seriously.
"Oh, that initial farming method our ancestors invented once they began to form family groups?" Concordia realized.
Keiran nodded.
"For seeded crops, we need fast growing varieties for our initial planting season. If we can produce our own food, we won't need to worry about HP depletion. Also, having animal food sources that do not necessarily have to be killed to produce food also reduce the likelihood that we'll have to go on multiple hunts" Keiran explained.
"We also need to secure a stable source of fresh water. Our stats are mainly divided into three categories. HP which represents physical health, MP which represents mental health and a third slot that shows our current overall health in the form of stat buffs and debuffs. If the game has been designed in such a way that our HP continues to deplete unless we can find a regular source of food supply, it is possible that failure to find specific categories of food may eventually result in a stat debuff. In the Real World, there are deficiencies that go with an inadequate intake of specific categories of food as well as debuffs that go with an over intake of specific categories of food" Concordia noted.
"That's true. Talk about a balanced diet" Keiran said with a weird expression on his face.
"Anyway, for now, we should prioritize our water supply. In fact, we should have erected our shelter close to a good water source" Concordia realized.
Keiran sighed.
"That's certainly true. For now, we should try to find the sea. Rivers and springs eventually connect to the sea" Concordia noted.
"Just finding the sea should be good enough. I can fly with my abilities however I'm not quite sure you possess the same level of mobility that I do" Keiran said.
"Mobility? Certainly, if I could fly, we could find the sea in very little time" Concordia admitted.
"You do possess an affinity for Wind you know? If you didn't, you probably wouldn't be a very proficient archer" Keiran said.
Concordia smirked.
"I already told you that I'm bad at raw elemental control. I am more proficient at channeling my affinities through my sigil" Concordia said and then she gasped in realization.
"Channeling my affinities through my sigil" she said with a smile.
"Exactly" Keiran said with a smirk.
"I've never tried this before but Keiran, would you mind drawing close?" Concordia asked.
Keiran walked to her side.
Concordia held his hand.
"KRAKEN ANDROMEDA! PATHWAY MODE!" Concordia called and her arrows lined up in front of Keiran and herself to form a pathway.
It was wide enough that she and Keiran could stand on.
"KRAKEN ANDROMEDA! SURF MODE!!!" Concordia called and her arrows began to levitate with Keiran and herself standing on them.
Utilizing her focus, Concordia began to direct her arrows like a surfboard through the air.
"Surfing on air. Pretty creative Concordia. I'm impressed" Keiran said with an impressed smile.
"It was all thanks to your clue. We don't know when or how we'll find our recovery items so we can't afford to completely deplete our MP just yet. I advise we utilize our techniques in alternation to conserve our collective MP. When mine drops below eighty percent, it will be your turn to utilize your techniques" Concordia suggested.
"That's a good idea. I agree" Keiran said.
The two surfed on Concordia's Kraken Andromeda. Fortunately enough, the sea wasn't very far. They soon arrived at the seashore.
"Should we perhaps search for springs now?" Concordia asked.
"The sea is enough. You should rest for now and try to recover your MP. It's my turn now" Keiran said.
Concordia nodded and rested.
Keiran stretched his hands and a large metallic storage tank arose from the earth. Keiran directed a pipeline connected to the storage tank into the sea. Utilizing suction, he pumped the sea water into the storage tank till it was full. Then he sealed the tank. He stretched his hands forward and a second storage tank appeared. Keiran connected the two tanks via a second pipe. Then he raised both tanks into the air on four massive pillars connected together by earthen beams. By the time he was done, it was almost sunset. Concordia woke up and saw the device Keiran had constructed.
"You're finally done?" she asked.
"How's your MP?" she seemed concerned.
"Just a little over eighty percent. Your turn Concordia. One of the tanks is full. The other is empty. I need a pile of your wooden arrows under the filled tank" Keiran said.
Concordia obeyed and set a multitude of wooden arrows under the full tank via her Kraken Andromeda. Keiran set the wooden arrows ablaze.
"I see. So this is some kind of distillation device" she realized.
"Exactly. I'm going to separate the salt from the sea water by evaporating all the water in the first tank" Keiran said.
He stretched his hands towards the second tank and piles of ice encased it.
"Next, through the pipes, I'll redirect all the vapour into the second tank and cool it to condense it. Any impurities in the sea water will remain in the emptied first tank after the distillation process due to the variations in weight between the water and any other foreign material in it" Keiran explained.
"Pretty impressive" Concordia said with an impressed smile.
"It's my turn to rest. When I wake up, we'll think of a way to deal with the food issue" Keiran said and lay down to sleep.