Exploring the Roots

Karl's POV

Karl was walking, absorbing the scenery that was in front of him when suddenly he saw a group of elves, singing and hopping without a care in the world. He approached them and said "Hi, excuse me, I am quite new to the town and was wondering where am I?" The elves stopped their merry making and one of them answered "Hello brethren, you are in the town called the Roots of Midea. This is called the Roots of Midea because we are so close to the roots of the Great Tree. Around these parts are where travelers come and go. There are houses, shops and an inn near the Roots."

Karl thanked the elves and went his own way.

"This is amazing." Karl whispered to himself. In front of him are trees with trunks wider than the size of buses, and most of them are hallowed out, made into either a shop or a living space. Each shop has their own specialty, from special leaves that once brewed and placed on a wound would speed up the healing process, to places that sell drumlike instruments and flutes. Walking past the shops and to a flight of stairs. He got to the 2nd level of the town. There he saw a long bridge. It seems that the town was made up with gigantic trees and was interconnected via bridges. The bridge is forked and has 3 directions - left, right and the middle. He went to the left first.

The left side of the City is actually the only Inn in the Roots of Midea. It is called Roots Inn. Outside the inn you can see that it is a single big tree, two times the width of a truck and tall as the eye can see. He wandered inside and saw that there are some patrons, most of them are not elves but rather humans and dwarves. Some are eating and some are drinking ale. He went outside as he has no money nor would he want to drink virtual reality alcohol. He continued going around and he realized that this is the area in town where most people are living. He went onward and a smaller bridge was connecting the residential area and another part of the town.

At the end of the bridge, a woman elf was seen dancing gracefully as she plays the flute. She seems to be floating in the air with the way she is swaying with the song. There were birds singing with her, as if in tune with the elf. She is wearing a beautiful flowy green dress. Her hair is braided beautifully using leaves and flowers. She is breathtaking. Seeing the gawking elf, the woman stopped her music and waved him to get closer.

"Hello adventurer, care for a riddle?" the elf woman said to him while giving him a smile.

Karl, flabbergasted nods his head in agreement.

The elf woman asks him to sit on the ground in front of her.

Karl takes his seat and listens to the elf.

"Arfilla's Riddle" a tab popped on his screen, upon clicking he realized this is a quest.

Reward: ? ? ?

"Here goes the riddle."

I begin eternity,

And end space,

At the end of time,

And in every place,

Last in life,

Second to death,

Never alone,

Found in your breath,

Contained by earth,

Water or flame,

My grandeur so awesome,

Wind dare not tame,

Not in your mind,

Am in your dreams,

Vacant to Kings,

Present to Queens.

"What is the answer, traveler?"

Karl, is deep in his thoughts. Begins eternity.. ends in space, end of time and every place.. last.. life.. second to death.. earth, water, flame not in mind.. none in kings and present to queens.. huh. This one is similiar to the riddle that our philosophy professor once asked for free points on the exam. Alright.

"Traveler, do you know the answer?"

"Elf it is the letter "E". Karl answered Arfilla with certainty in his voice.

"Finally, someone has answered this riddle!" Exclaims Arfilla.

"Here, take this coin and this sword. Do not let others take it from you." The elf threw him 2 things. After catching both, the elf was nowhere to be seen.

A tab has shown and it says:

"Arfilla's Riddle" Quest Complete

Reward : Arfilla's Sword and Coin(???)

Arfilla's Sword(Magic)

Attack: 5

Attacking Speed : Fast

Effect: +2 Agility and +2 Dexterity

Description: Short sword owned by the elf Arfilla.

Coin(???): A Golden coin with an image of a tree on the side and a beautiful elf on the other.

Karl tried looking for the Elf but she disappeared without a trace. He thought about his inventory and placed the coin. He then equipped the sword since he was barehanded. Continuing on his path he encountered an arch that seems to be out of place in the area of the elves. Upon touching it a tab has popped up.

"You have unlocked a gate, you now have the access to teleport to this gate instantly using other gates."

He felt happy as he would not be walking back to this place when he wants to come back here.

Onward to his adventure, he saw another big tree, this one has guards outside of it. He tried entering but when he was close to the entrance he was stopped by 2 elves. "Adventurer, you lack the proper authorization to enter this place. Please get the proper authorization first."

Scratching his head, he went on his way and just continued going forward. He found a bridge smaller than the last and there was another entrance but with lots of elves, humans and dwarves gathered outside. There are no orcs, he thought to himself. He tried getting in but apparently there is a line. Not interested he just backtracked his steps and went back to the town.

From the town he asked around for a place to train and gain some levels. He was told to go circle around town and behind it will be a forest full of monsters. It took him 30 minutes of walking to circle around the town. When he entered the forest something has popped in his screen.

You are now entering the Overgrown Forest. He saw some monsters near a tree named Karka Boar. One of the monsters has a red name and it looked at him, charging. Red named monsters are considered aggressive and will attack adventurers on sight.

The other white named ones are not aggressive and are considered neutral until attacked. He took out his sword and waited in his position while the monster charged at him, he tried to dodge but it was too late, he was knocked back a yard from where he was standing while the boar went past him, hitting him dead in the gut for an outstanding 10 hp. He was quite disoriented after the attack but he shook it off and tried again. Karl noticed that unlike other VR Games, this one does not have a guiding system that support the way players attack and defend. Because of this he knew the reason why he was late in dodging the charge of the boar.

This time, when the boar was close to him, he swinged his sword at its legs before dodging. He heard a squeal and on his battle log he saw he damaged the boar by 10 points. The life bar of the Karka boar has 2/3 of it left. Since it was hit on the legs it cannot even stand anymore, he then killed the boar by stabbing it. Due to the games default settings, there was less blood than there should be had it been in a real boar being killed. The Karka Boar disappeared in a bunch of light particles and Karl was left with an item and some experience points.

His exp bar was filled to 100% and then went back to 0%, with it a tab was shown.

"You gained a level. You gained 3 points of attributes."

Killing a monster will automatically grant you whatever item it will drop straight to your inventory. If your inventory is full it will be dropped to the ground and will be free for anyone to loot. His Inventory shows Karka Leather x1

He thought of Status and the tab appeared. he added 2 points in agility and 1 in dexterity

Name : Nova

Race : Elf

Title : Commoner

Level: 2

Attributes :

Health 50/50

Magic 30/30

Strength: 10

Agility : 17+(2)

Vitality: 8

Intelligence: 10

Dexterity : 16+(2)

Luck : 10

Every level he gains, his base max hp increases by 10 and his magic increases by 5. Karl then continued on his merry way. Killing Karka boars on the way. After hours of walking and battling Karka Boars, he has reached level 7, he had 15 more attribute points to allocate. He put 10 more in his agility and 4 on his dexterity and 2 to his strength. This is his stats

Name : Nova

Race : Elf

Title : Commoner

Level: 6

Attributes :

Health 90/90

Magic 50/50

Strength: 12

Agility : 27+(2)

Vitality: 8

Intelligence: 10

Dexterity : 20+(2)

Luck : 10

Looking at his inventory:

Karka Leather x63

Karka Meat x 10

Karka Tust x3

Coin(???)x1

So from his items, he has killed 63 Karka Boars. His bag has now 77/200 items and if he don't stop killing Karka Boars soon, he will have the need to sell the drops to a merchant in the town.

He decided to continue killing monsters until he got back at the town. The sun is almost gone and he still has alot of stretch to walk to get back. It was close to 9pm when he arrived. It is mostly empty now and you will see an elf here and there, probably patrolling for the night. He decided to call it a day because his mom will be mad if he did not show up for dinner.