Looking at her fingers as she moved them around like she was using them to count, Alchemy hummed.
"So basically a football field. Or, 2 in this case?"
Alchemy wasn't exactly sure how to determine scale. She wasn't a landowner or anything fancy, so such things were irrelevant to her.
"That aside… This place is quite beautiful, huh? In a creepy, demonic kinda way. Was there ever a biome like this in A.O.A?" She continued as she walked.
As far as her eyes could see, it was a forest—quite a dense one at that. The grass was white as snow, and the leaves on the trees were vibrant red, alongside the black and grey trees. Littering the ground were numerous flowers and odd-shaped rocks of varying colors, none of which she could determine, unfortunately.
There wasn't much in the way of bushes or other foliage, but the density of the trees made it difficult to navigate or even see too far ahead.
The only sense of familiarity she could get from this forest she walked through was a clear river. She followed it for a while to ensure she didn't get lost while exploring.
Looking into the reflective water, she saw her appearance—the exact appearance she had every day, the one she woke up and fell asleep with.
"So why do I feel so… Empty."
Not metaphorically, she felt incredibly light. Her long, silky brown hair blew with the wind as a singular pair of clips struggled to keep her bangs out of her dull eyes. Her skin was quite pale, almost to the point where one might think she was a ghost or vampire, and all she wore was grey sweats, a silver hoodie, and whatever undershirt she had beneath it.
Hardly clothing for exploring an eerie forest full of what she could only describe as inverted colors.
"If I knew I was going to get sent to another world, I would have put on some makeup at least."
That aside, she also had a piece of jewelry that wasn't present prior: a large bracelet with a small pendant of sorts. The pendant looked like a cross, with chains coiling around it like a snake.
Alchemy had an idea of what it was, but she couldn't check until she leveled up, so she left it for now. At the very least, she thought it looked pretty nice.
Continuing along the riverbed, Alchemy let out a large sigh.
"It's only been a few hours, and I'm already talking to myself. This is going splendidly!" She cheered to herself sarcastically.
There were so many things in her head right now; she didn't know what to spend her energy on. That bizarre lightness, the winds that seem to grow heavier, what she assumes to be deeper into the forest… The suspicious glowing line that lay in front of her…
"That's… My Territory's edge?"
Slowly, Alchemy walked closer to the line. From here, she could see the edge run along through the trees. In fact, she can see the entire boundary of her starting land now.
"Glad that feature has remained from the game." She said, sticking her hand out of the boundary.
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"Not so much that feature." She sighed again, retracting her hand.
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It'd be a lie to say she wasn't expecting this. In Ancients of Ascension, factions could fall under three primary archetypes.
Magical, Demonic, and the one she resided in, Divine. Each had its benefits and weaknesses, functioning in a basic rock-paper-scissors format.
"Does this mean I'm a bonafide Goddess then? I wonder how creating miracles works."
This was something to think about later. She already knew that such things would be too resource-heavy for her right now, even if she knew how to do them.
"Whatever. At the very least, this location seems pretty decent to start. No caves, meaning rare minerals, will be a chore, but that's a problem for future Alchy!" She nodded to herself, her voice being the only thing keeping her remotely sane.
Whatever the case, she finished the mission, so it was time to head back. As she started walking, however, something seemed off very quickly.
Sounds that didn't belong to her. Footsteps, maybe, she couldn't tell. When she tried to search for the sound, all she was met with was leaves blowing in the wind.
"I knew this would happen!!" She said, beginning to run. "I was hoping they'd ignore me if I didn't jinx it!"
Ancients of Ascension was a game about conquering kingdoms and building a civilization. Naturally, combat was a massive part of the game, and the devs loved making sure players kept on their toes at all times.
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Like throwing an encounter at them before they've properly adapted...
"No! I don't want a new mission! I want to make units!"
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"What do you mean death?!" she questioned in a panic, looking back only to see three wolves that were absolutely not Juvenile, trying to lunge at her!
Narrowly, she avoided the initial strike from their viscous claws by falling on her face.
Smooth.
Alchemy has never seen a real wolf, but she's seen pictures, and they're not that big in pictures! It was at least 7 feet long!
"Urgh…" She groaned, quickly getting up as she realized they had her surrounded, slowly circling their prey.
"Okay… No, this is fine. It's just like when Dad took me hunting all those years ago. Just… Without a gun... or a weapon of any sort, for that matter. Yeah, I got this."
Focusing on the wolves in front of her, she was greeted by a status screen.
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"Lovely." She scoffed.
Looking at the other two wolves to ensure their estimated danger levels were the same, Alchemy sighed a small sigh of relief.
An estimated danger rank of C wasn't too bad. It meant their stat average was quite similar to Alchemy. Not that such information meant anything significant since Alchemy couldn't see her stats until level 5.
She could have 500 points in her Intelligence and 3 in her Constitution and Strength for all she knew.
The odds didn't seem to be in her favor, even if that wasn't the case.
"Hey, now, puppies. Listen, I'm not in the business of hurting kids, okay? Now, how about you three back off, and this doesn't get ugly, okay?" She asked softly, doing her best to keep her eyes on all 3 of her future opponents.
The wolves growled menacingly in response; rather, they growled more. They've been growling the whole time.
"Worth a shot." Alchemy cursed her fate as she leaned down to grab the biggest rock she could reach for.