The sound of everyone around him came back but it was quieter than before. Some of the kids had stopped crying and only a handful of people started talking to each other.
Ace laughed. "So this is actually real!" he thought, feeling a cold sweat on his back. He opened the character sheet and looked through it.
>Character sheet
[Name: Ace Hill] [Class: Rogue]
[Level: 1] [Race: Elf]
[Titles: None] [Languages: Elven]
>Stats<
Strength: 1
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 1
Constitution: 1
================
"The stats have changed from the game?" Ace whispered to himself and bit his lip. He wondered why but let the thought go not willing to waste time thinking about useless things.
Opening his spell book, he found [Dagger strike] and [Rogue affinity], the starting skills for any rogue. Dagger strike applies extra damage to attacks with daggers and Rogue affinity increases agility by +5.
Looking into his bag, he found a level 1 dagger, a wrapping of bread and a waterskin filled with clean water. Gathering himself, he stood up and started walking away from the crowd of people, towards the road nearby.
"If this is like a game, then levels are everything. Whoever the strongest is depends on who's level is the highest and I'm not about to waste time standing around." He thought. Having played World of Tales since it was released, and an unhealthy amount at that, he knew just how important opportunities were. Falling behind in levels is more dangerous than staying inside a safe town.
Others started joining in behind him. He walked for a few minutes and more and more people ran to join in behind them. He felt weird being followed by elves, even though he knew they were humans. Luckily, the only change he felt uncomfortable with was that his arms were longer.
Another few minutes go by and he spots what looks like a closed village gate further down the road. Once he's gotten closer, his heart sinks in his chest as he sees a drawn arrow being pointed at him.
"Stop! Stay where you are!" A fierce but also soft shout could be heard from atop the gate. Ace puts his hands up and stands still. He hears people behind him run away while others shout out of fear.
"We don't want any trouble, I simply want to speak with you." He says while looking at her eyes, temporarily trying to forget the drawn bow.
"Then why are you here?" She asks while staring him down.
"It's quite complicated and I'd like to have a proper conversation with you." He smiles in an attempt to look friendly.
"Alright." She says, undrawing her bow. "Open up the gate! I'll let you in alone first to talk. Then we'll see what happens."
Ace nods and walks towards the gate. He can hear people bicker behind him but he couldn't care less. He won't press for more considering one of the options was an arrow through his skull.
An elf in knight uniform guides him in and towards a road where he can see the elf woman jump down from the gate wall. It looked unnatural to jump from such heights without breaking any bones.
"The power of stats" He thought to himself.
"Greetings." She said. "My name is Allira and I'm the captain of the night scouts."
"Nice to meet you Allira, I'm Ace." He says and notices how she slightly reacts to his name. He quickly adds. "My name may seem strange but that's also related to why I'm here, you see-." Before he can continue, she cuts him off.
"Before we continue our conversation, I'll take you to the village elder. His word is law here in Kealon and will know what to do." Ace nods. Allira walked briskly through the village and Ace couldn't help but look at Allira. Never had he seen such an attractive woman before and her clothes certainly didn't help. She wore shorts that was covered by a shirt with a leather strap on top which presented a leaf with three arrows through it. He was sure that was an emblem the captain wore. Her shirt pressed against her figure when she walked and the sun shining on her smooth skin only amplified her beauty.
Pulling his eyes away from her, he noticed buildings which seemed empty and abandoned. Streets with no soul in sight and market stands emptied out. He only occasionally saw someone, either villager or guard.
"Where is everyone?" Ace asked. Allira's speed slowed down and she answered.
"They're either dead or have fled to another village." Her tone was noticeably quieter than before.
"Oh... If you don't mind me asking. What happened?" He tried to sound as sympathetic as possible.
"An orc tribe has settled down several miles from here and they've regularly been launching attacks at our village for the past year. We managed to keep them at bay at first but they slowly increased in numbers and eventually overran us." She sighed quietly, "It's just a matter of time before this village is burned down to the ground."
Ace felt his stomach churn slightly. The thought of a horde of orcs attacking him made him shiver. But this also made him think. According to the game, orcs tend to position themselves in the north because of their thick skin. If anything, he'd assumed that it was a troll tribe that was harassing the village and not orcs since trolls tend to stick to forests.
He didn't have enough information. How and what exactly did god use as inspiration from the game. Can he even trust his own knowledge about the game? Realizing he'd been lost in thought for a few seconds too long, he turned to her.
"Oh... I'm really sorry to hear that. Can't the nearby villages help out with the orc attacks?"
"The village elder has sent letters to multiple villages but none so far want to aid us. And from the looks of it, even the guards we've hired won't stay." Their conversation turned silent as they entered a building that stood out from the rest.
Ace's mind was racing. She was sharing way too many details about their situation to a total stranger. Not only that, she seemed to have lost all hope as well. Just as he was about to ask, she said "Looks like we're here. Please sit and I'll go inform the elder."
"Alright" He nodded and sat down on one of the chairs. Looking around, he noticed that just about everything was made out of wood. Some had metal or stone as components but mostly consisted of wood. The buildings he saw on the way here was at least built with more materials than one.
Ace let his mind wander, thinking about what options he has to level up. How thankful he was for choosing an elf and not a human or dwarf. The village plaza seemed to not have a teleport platform and there were next to no animals. And are NPCs aware of what levels are? They didn't in the game but do they know here?
Another minute go by and the door opens showing an old elf man with a gray beard. The old man's green robe swayed as he moved towards the chair on the opposite side of the table.
"Greetings fine guest! I am Urdusin, village elder of Kealon. What brings you here? I heard from Allira that you have a group with you?" His wrinkly smile showed surprisingly healthy white teeth.
"That's right, or rather, while I am affiliated with the group that arrived at the village gate. I do not know them. The thing is, there are more people further away down the path we came from."
"Sorry but I'm not sure we're capable of housing you at the moment." The elder said. "I'm afraid we have quite a lot of things on our hands already."
"Yeah, I heard from Allira about the orc issues and the lack of support from other villages." He said. Urdusin looked shocked but then frowned and said "that young girl shares too much." Ace simply nodded and agreed.
Ace picked up the conversation. "So first of all, I have a question. It's simply a yes or no question, no harm done."
"Alright?" The elder said.
Ace breathed in deeply and asked, "Do you know what levels are?"
"Levels?" he asked? "Why, yes of course. It describes your strength and by using an instrument known as level stone, you can figure out what level you are."
"Ah okay, thank you. Now onto a more important topic." Ace continued. "You might not believe what I'm about to tell you but I promise you on my life that it's true."
Urdusin looked intently at Ace. "Okay, I'm all ears."
"Throughout this world, there will be a big increase in population. This goes for both factions." The elder sat quiet and waited for more information. "The reason for this is the hard to believe part but once you see the increase in population, you'll believe me. I am actually not from this world."
Silence covered the room, only the open window's creaks could be heard. The elder's facial expression still the same as before.
"Those outside of the gates aren't from this world either. The others I mentioned who were further away as well. Our two worlds have merged because of my old world's god."
Once again, silence befell the room...
A minute passed and the elder finally broke the silence with a sigh.
"I do realize how difficult it is to believe me. You can choose not to but I advise you to at least think about it."
The elder stroked his beard and said, "No. I'm forced to believe what you're saying. If what you are saying is true, that means an increase in the enemy forces as well. Choosing to ignore what you said would simply be taking an unnecessary risk."
"I'm glad you think that way. Currently, a lot of the elves that are waiting to be let in are confused or scared as they've never been here before. I only chose to act instead of letting that fear control me."
Ace chose to lie and not tell the elder that the elves used to be humans. His current objective was to get a proper start in this new life and a source for resources.
"But I believe that if we teach the scared and confused combat and let them train, they can be a force to be reckoned with."
"I'm afraid that I'll have to remind you that we do not have the resources to feed more than what we are already housing." The elder said with a disappointed facial expression.
Ace thought about it and said, "How about this. You let us use some of the empty buildings for housing and we'll gather our own food and resources from the forest."
The elder seemed to think about it for a few seconds and responded, "That should work. I do hope your people know how to act and not create unnecessary problems."
"I'll try my best and tell them. I was thinking, for the ones uncapable of battle, where is the closest village they can venture to instead?" Ace asked.
"Further up the road you took to get here, if you keep to the right, you'll find Iminore Village."
"That's all I have then. Is there anything you want to know before I go help my people, village elder?"
Urdusin sat quiet for a few seconds, "I have quite a lot of questions but we can keep those for later. Once you have finished what you need, come back to me and we'll continue our talk. There are a few questions I have in mind."
"Of course" Ace nodded and headed out the door. Once outside the building, he was greeted by Allira who stood there waiting.
"It seems everything went well considering you're still alive." She smiled.
"That's reassuring." He said with a chuckle.
"I'm just joking. I'll guide you back to the gate. I heard we're getting a few new neighbors."
"Yeah. I'm hopeful they listen to me. because I don't personally know them, I'm not sure how many will stick around." He said.
"The more the better I suppose." She said.
After a few minutes of walking, Ace could hear shouting from the main gate. "Please don't tell me they've already screwed my chances" he thought to himself. He hurriedly made it on top of the wall. The majority of the shouting stopped when they saw him.
Ace told the group of people outside the gate the position they were in which eventually quieted everyone down. Perhaps shouting insults towards guards who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the village isn't the smartest option when you're looking for help.
Once the explanation was done, people outside of the gate started asking questions.
"What if I don't want to fight?" A person asked.
"If you don't want to fight, I advice you to follow the road we took to get here and hug right. That will lead you to another village called Iminore and they're not under threat of orc attacks."
"More questions?" Ace asked to the group.
"Why should we even stay here if we can just go to another village?"
"That's true. To anyone who wants to abandon this village can leave. No one is forcing you to stay and help fight against the enemy faction. However! If we leave these people and let the orcs take over this village. There is only a matter of time before they attack the next village and so on."
Minutes passed and soon the flow of questions stopped. Ace looked at the remaining people. At least 20 had decided to stay. A few of the remaining went to explain the situation to those who were left behind.
The gate was opened and Allira started guiding people to houses they could occupy. Groups of three was formed amongst the people to share houses.
Ace went back to Urdusin to answer whatever questions he had. By the time everyone was settled down, it had gotten late and everyone went to bed in their new homes.