Chapter 4: The Flying Stick and The Encounter

I was almost to the end of my journey to the Yarthon Woods. I finally decided to try to experiment with the Rune Programming that I'd unlocked in Level 2. I called out, "menu" not sure if it would work but it did. A screen popped up in front of my face.

There was a Stats section, a Skills section, a Runes section, and some more options that were grayed out, hopefully, I could unlock those later. I clicked on Skills and navigated to Rune Programming. A description popped up.

[Rune Programming allows you to program with Runes (see Runes section for available Runes). To use simply think "Rune Programming" while in contact with an object. The amount of Runes you can use to program an object is limited to your Rune Capacity which starts at 3.

Your Rune Capacity isn't affected ­Control Runes like if statements as well as Parameter Runes. You are also limited by your Rune Complexity. You can currently only use Simple Runes like Movement Runes. To run a rune program simply think "run program" while in contact with a programmed object.]

<Doesn't seem too hard I thought to myself making mental connections between Rune Programming and Earth Programming.>

I was extremely excited to check it out so I picked up a random stick I found on the side of the dirt road. "Rune Programming", I thought to myself. The world seemed to pause as a simple text editor popped up in front of me. I started messing around.

A while later I had a very tiny program to test. It consisted of a Movement Rune with a Parameter Rune melded to the end. I discovered that I could use Parameter Runes to specify the parameters of the main runes. So for the Movement Rune, it was stuff like speed, direction, etc. I closed the window, happy with my work so far. I felt some energy drain out of me and I saw runes materialize on the stick.

I grabbed it and thought, "Run Program". Then I felt some more energy drain out of me as the stick flew out of my hand and dropped to the ground after going about 10 feet away from its original position. I stared at it in shock and wonder. I'd successfully programmed in this new world! Then I kept walking but with a bit more spring in my step.

I arrived at the Yarthon Woods a while later. The dense expanse of green covered my vision like a blanket, preventing me from prying under its secretive canopy. The weirdest part was that I heard and saw no signs of animal life. As if attracting attention would spell out a death sentence. I looked around scrutinizing the forest around me trying to find some semblance of life but still found nothing, just eerie silence.

<Jeez, why do the woods have to be so creepy?>

I didn't see any of the Chrysanthum Herbs around so I walked slightly into the forest to try to find some, dragging my feet as if some part of me knew it was a bad idea but I didn't want to fail my first mission so I continued onward. 2 minutes in I finally spotted a patch of Chrysanthum Herbs. They were just as Melissa described them. Yellow and purple combined in a swirl of color on an otherwise regular-looking fern-type thing.

I walked closer to the collection of herbs and I felt myself start smiling at finding them so quickly. Seems like this really was a quest for newbies! I reached out with my hand and felt the plant, caressing it gently before ripping it out of its home in the ground and stuffing it in the bag I'd gotten from Melissa before doing it some more to the rest of the helpless plants. The plants were so terrified in fact that they didn't even run away from me! After I'd completely desecrated the family of Chrysanthums I knew I had at least 50 so I turned around to head back to the Guild only to see a snarling wolf blocking my path.

Spit was dripping out of its big mouth and I could see rows of unnecessarily pointy teeth that I knew were definitely razor sharp. Its gray matted fur was raised and its ears were twitching in my direction. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to run due to its strong-looking legs especially since it had two more legs than me. I took out my dagger and snarled back at the wolf taking a combat stance that I'd seen in some movies back on Earth. The wolf just snarled louder than before and pounced towards me.

I stabbed the side of the wolf with my dagger and it screeched. Running away from me and taking my dagger with it. I stupidly chased after it unarmed, filled with adrenaline and unwarranted confidence. I raced through the trees dodging the thick trunks and jumping over exposed roots and bushes but it was built for this environment and I was not. The speed the wolf was running at caused the loose forest dirt to fly into my eyes as well as decorate already shabby clothes.

Thankfully though, thanks to the bumpy running of the wolf it wiggled itself out of the wolf's side, causing even more ear-piercing screeches of pain to resound through the woods. I deftly leaped to my dagger and stopped chasing after the wolf, happy with my victory and the retrieval of my weapon. I looked around my surroundings to try to locate any new threats I might have to deal with and saw no immediate ones.

I did however notice that I'd stopped right near a cave. It looked sinister and full of danger ready to engulf all trespassers in complete and total darkness. I decided to enter it however because I felt that in fantasy worlds like this one where there was danger there was usually treasure. So armed with just a dagger I entered the cave.