Hidden Village

With a brief flash of light, Jiggy appeared right in front of a place full of lush green trees.

Ding!!!

Confused, he strode forward when he noticed a bunch of strangers walking towards him.

It was only when Jiggy turned his head back that he saw a small bustling village not so far away. Streams of people hastily came and left the village living their lives as if they were real people.

"Heh? So, this is the called Hidden Village? It seems to be not well hidden though as we could locate it after some hours of searching," Jingco overheard a guy traveling with his group of three entering the village.

"Well, maybe it really was hidden before but due to some unforeseen circumstances, the village was exposed to the world. It's not like people can intervene though if such gods or deities themselves intended the village to meet the world," rebuked the green-haired man to his companion.

Jingco was utterly speechless as he heard the conversation of what he called the 'three idiots.'

It was because up above the village gates was a conspicuous brown wooden board etched with the words "Hidden Village" on it. The board was hanged up on a cemented arc connected to the mossy village walls.

***

In the middle of the village was a colorful chalet where the famous village elder resided. Like any other games, the said elder was responsible for overseeing and guiding the new travelers in their conquest and journey in the new world.

Ding!

'You have discovered the hidden village. Map completion rate: 1%'

The system notification rang on Jingco's head once he entered the village gates.

"Welcome to the Hidden Village travelers!" An old man happily exclaimed after he somersaulted in the air and landed perfectly on the platform near the village gates.

PERFECT!

Claps resounded as a huge number of villagers gathered near the open plaza. They were elated as they watched the dazzling performance of their elder.

"What a show off!" Jiggy murmured when he saw the old man stroke his foot-long white beard while obviously enduring his back pain due to the fall. The man walked down the platform gracefully as if he was a gymnast who obtained a perfect score with his acrobatic stunt. It was only then that Jingco saw the elder's name: Scrolls.

"Good day mates!" Said the elder as he spoke with a somewhat Australian accent upon stretching his head to look around the newcomers.

Elder Scrolls approached the travelers and handed a burnt skin parchment to each of them as he began to explain the matters of the continent, Pangaea.

Rustle...

Elder Scrolls unfurled a huge beast scroll with an illustration of a tube-shaped region. The contents of the scroll was similar to those he handed over the ardent newcomers.

"In this area lies blah blah blah..."

Scrolls enthusiastically explained the important matters to know about Pangaea. The Hidden Village belonged to the Eppendorf Tube Region located at the Northern side of the hemisphere. The village itself has no knowledge whatsoever of what lies beyond Eppendorf, but occasional hearsay and tales were spoken through generations.

"...The residents of this world does not differentiate from the residents of other worlds hence, please be careful of your actions."

Elder Scrolls ended his 30-minute chatter. He opened up his palm to gather five copper coins from each player as payment for the map he gave.

Maps were one of the travel necessities in any world specially for adventurers and explorers. Everyone, except for the newbie players understood this concept hence, little complaints was heard and the players doubtlessly paid the fee to the elder.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!"

Elder Scrolls merrily received their payment with a wide bright smile painted through his face along side with the generous "thank you" through his words. Right after he swiftly gathered the collection, he immediately asked for leave reasoning that his wife was on her critical stage of pregnancy.

Swoosh!!!

Elder Scrolls dashed and disappeared. His presence vanished as if he never appeared in front of the crowd.

***

"Bwahahahahaha!"

In a messy room full of beast skins and ink stains, an old man was laughing heartily as he just finished a successful transaction. In front of him was a number of coins stacked in five rows.

Code James 007. He was sentenced to OP detention facility for 15 years and had lived haughtily as an elder since he was imprisoned nine years ago. Unlike those prisoners suffering heavy punishment, he was one of the lucky 21 granted a parole by having a noble status in game.

Living the life of Elder Scrolls, his character role was designed to rule over the Hidden Village and to generate quests or manage game events. But as the game was launched, Code James 007 employed sneaky tactics to swindle new players.

***

As the man named Elder Scrolls rushed over his humble home, similar notice sounded on the ears of the travelers,

'Item trade successful.'

'1x useless map received.'

"So, it looks like we're swindled! That shitty old man!" A nerdy-looking youth cursed as he just lost five copper coins to the unfair trade.

Many went mad as they lost a good amount of coins. Considering everyone had just started playing the game, the value they paid for the map was already heartbreaking. Nobody could refute that the trade was illegal however, since the system considered the players' agreement to the trade the moment they handed the payment to the elder. The villagers, on the other hand, paid no heed to the sentiments of the swindled players as they went back to mind their own businesses after listening to the Elder's speech.

Some big-hearted fellows consoled themselves that the coins would suffice for the information the elder told them. They just shrugged their shoulders thinking that the elder badly needed the money for his wife's parturition. As they chanced to look upon the item once again, they were at lost whether to laugh or cry for their ignorance as the very little information in the map was expounded by the flowery mouth of the scamming Elder.

But the gist of all thoughts was, "How did he do that?"

Many of them were wondering.

Maybe the Elder used to hold the title of the 'Best Essay Writer' during his school years.

His expounding and explanatory skills were very remarkable and outstanding to the point that he can come up with a very detailed explanation of a raw insignificant map. He even lasted for 30 minutes!

Amazing!

Jingco shook his head. His heart was very heavy. He was highly disappointed of the acquired item because aside from the insignificant information it contained, there were also inconsistencies with the details mentioned by the elder and those displayed on the map.

Whether it was Elder Scrolls' mistake or the map's cartographer's error, nobody really knows what the truth is.

The map disclosed the general information of a small region – a tube-shaped region by the name Eppendorf Tube, situated at the southern portion of the continent. On the tipmost edge of Eppendorf, was where the area called Hidden Village resided, occupying only a tenth of the whole region. All other land masses in Pangaea were grayed out with the exception of the yellow-colored area, Eppendorf.

"The eastern side of Eppendorf Tube Region was rumored to be a wasteland. The western side was where the volcanic den of the dwarves was said to be found while the northern part was the suspected lair of the elves, Sherwood Forest. To the south was the vast ocean, housing numerous water and aquatic species."

"Of the four regions however, only the existence of the vast waters in the south was confirmed; all other three regions were explored through imagination from folktales and hearsay." Jingco inhaled a deep breath. He can summarize the 30-minute speech of the Elder in one word, RUMORS.

"Bastard!" Jingco inwardly exclaimed. He crumpled the map and pondered about the truths he can salvage from pieces of information he just heard.

"There was really only one," he concluded.

Finally, he was lost in thoughts; pondering the truth whether Eppendorf Tube was in the north or the west. Elder Scrolls' narration was in disagreement with the map he casually gave. His sense of direction was as bad as a broken compass buried for 10,000 years in the deep blue sea.

***

Jiggy checked his status window after the colorful event that happened.

Name: Jiggy

Species: Human (Homo sapiens)

Profession: None

Class Specialization: None

Title: None

Level: 1

Health Points (HP): 170

Mana Points (MP): 100

Stamina Points (SP): 100

Attack: 13~21

Defense: 7

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 10

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 10

Fame: 0

Infamy: 0

Contribution: 0

Skills: None

Jingco was in a daze for a few moments as he read his information appearing in his status window. Seconds later, he went to stroll in the village as he found it amusing and serene.

***

Joseph was amazed as he strolled around NeverLand. He paid no notice of the three dumbfounded beauties as he happily watched the flying beasts. Never in his life did he imagine that he would be able to witness such wonderful scene.

"I want to be a bird... a bird... a big bird... a small bird... I want to be a bird..."

The trio was left with their mouths agape as they had already finished their explanation about the world but the 'supposedly listener' didn't care at all.

After a while, Joseph blinked his eyes as an ingenious idea seemed to sprout out of his heart.

"Hoh! I have decided Big Sisters! I will be a bird! But I can't choose which of them so I'll just pick any at random." Joseph exclaimed after convincing himself that birds are the highest life form living in the planet. His blood boiled in ecstasy as he started to shiver with excitement.

"Birds fly the highest! Wooo!" Joseph ran towards the portal for random draft as he really cannot decide which avian species he wanted to be.

***

In a dilapidated house made of plywood and scrap materials, a middle-aged man was walking back and forth. He seemed to be in a pinch as he occasionally pull his hair as he stopped for a while and look out in daze.

After a few minutes, a golden light shone into his eyes as he was enlightened and had been freed of the problem he was facing the past days. He heaved a sigh of relief as his bright self was able to address a solution to his current predicament.

"That's it! I'm a genius!" He shouted as he rushed out towards a cafe laughing maniacally as if he had won the jackpot in a lottery.