Ch7: Let the Game Begin
Opening her eyes, Krvavy is met with the sight of a cave ceiling. The same cave that she was just in, from the look of it. Just a bit dimmer and possibly a bit smaller.
“Ugh... That hurt like hell...” The faintest echo of discomfort throbs away at the back of her brain. It fades into nothingness before she can truly focus on it. “But at least it doesn’t anymore... They really need to change that. Or at least give a warning...”
While still lying down, she decides to take a look around the small cave. It definitely seems a lot cozier now than during the character creation, though it is difficult to determine why exactly she feels that way. At least beyond the fact that the large mirror is gone and seems to have been replaced with a calm spring flowing clear water down some rocks. Maybe its because she is sprawled out on some sort of fur pelt rather than the stone floor? Or maybe its just that she feels well-rested for the first time in decades?
Sitting up is kind of awkward, as her thick tail makes it a little uncomfortable to lie on her back and gets in her way just a bit, but she’ll get used to it eventually. Stretching her arms above her head, Krvavy suddenly realizes that she is still naked. Or, more specifically, her breasts are still exposed, as she seems to be wearing a white fur loincloth.
“Of fucking course. Bikini armour isn’t skimpy enough for these perverted devs...” She grumbles and shakes her head as she continues looking around the room. Resting beside her fur pelt bed appears to be an almost comically and stereotypically ‘barbarian’ axe, with a large bone as a handle and a jagged chunk of iron as a blade. Next to that axe is a rather rough looking water skin and a pile of some sort of jerky.
“Is that all I get as starting equipment?” Krvavy questions as she stands up, and as soon as she is up on her feet a notification pops up in her vision.
Welcome to the Northern Wildlands. This cave is bound to your soul, and none but you may enter it. Upon death, your soul will return to this place and your body will return to life. In time you may attune your soul to other such locations, though only one at a time. Be warned, while you can return to life, death still caries consequences.
Level Up! You have reached Level 1. As a Drakling blessed by a divine power, you have 5 attribute points to allocate and have gained +2 to Might & Toughness. If not allocated by the time you fall asleep it will be done automatically.
“Oh, cool. So this is my respawn point. Got it. And it sounds like there is a debuff or something for dying, which makes sense I guess. They are trying to make this realistic, but most people don’t like permadeath so having some sort of consequence is reasonable...” Krvavy muses. “Anyway, I have some stat points to use. I do have a character sheet or something, right?”
“Huh. Alright. A bit boring looking, but seems pretty clear. No real context on how strong I am, but starting with ten’s across the board was a special player character thing, so I’m probably pretty tough? For a level one, at least. And if I remember right, the extra attributes in the brackets come from my class. I guess its like that so I know what my actual stats are... Now, what are those traits and those skills? The ones that I didn’t pick.”
Divine Potential: Blessed by a divine power, your affinity for all skills starts at 100% and will never diminish.
Drakling Rage: Draconic blood courses through your veins, increasing your physical power in proportion with your temper, though at the cost of making your temper harder to keep under control.
Not So Cunning Linguist: Blessed by a divine power, you are capable of quickly learning any spoken language heard.
Inspect: Concentrating on someone or something will reveal information regarding its properties.
Seismic Stomp: Through a mighty stomp Earthen magic is sent into the ground, sending forth a rolling wave of earth. Costs up to 40 Mana per use. Associated attributes = Might & Willpower.
Transmute Blood: Sanguine magics convert blood into magical energy. Mana received varies with quality of blood, and is more efficient on blood that is not your own. Associated attribute = Insight.
“As vague as always. Also, what’s with the language one? Its just some pervert pun that doesn’t even make any sense, as ‘quickly’ learning a language is pretty cunning. I don’t know what’s ‘not so’ about that.” Krvavy complains. “Whatever,” she sighs and moves on, “the racial trait seems pretty good, though it’d be nice if it said how much of a buff it gave... And the spells seem alright. No healing, which is kind of a shame, but at least I have a way to get more mana. Looks like I’ll need it to, if the cost of Seismic Stomp is anything to go by. And I guess Inspect is just what I’ve been using this whole time...?”
Krvavy shakes her head, dismissing the info boxes and looking back at her stat sheet. She has some attribute points to allocate. She is just level one, so what she picks doesn’t matter all that much. It can’t hurt to get some more health and stamina though. Especially since it looks like it’ll take an entire day to heal back to full if she gets hurt. So she puts two in Endurance and three in Toughness.
“Well, that looks good. I guess. Now its time to go out and explore this world!” Krvavy happily says, before slowly looking down at herself. “Well... I should probably explore this new body first... Get used to it before traipsing around...”