Chapter 2

Standing back inside my room, I kept thinking of what just happened.

The health gauge and other details that showed in the sides of my vision proved everything to be real.

'I died? I have a family? She wants me to save this world?'

That's right, EtherWorld was supposed to be a multiplayer survival game. Players had to join or make factions to save the world. The game had infinite endings created by the A.I Aditi.

'Was that all a pretext?'

Sigh.

'I still can't believe Miss Reina passed away. And she was ill for years? How did I not know? What am I supposed to do now?'

'The oldest memory I had before today was the same as always. Was I five then? I was brought up in this orphanage for the past five years. Eat. Work. Sleep. It's been a routine everyday.'

'Should I go out to find my family? Will they even want me? I am just a scrawny and weak kid. How would I even be able to find them? I don't even remember their names.'

Closing my eyes, I curled up on the bed.

'Ok. Decided. First things first, I need to get out of this orphanage. Aditi mentioned that she had given her blessing to me. But what is the blessing? Is it just the heads up display?

From the Heads Up Display, I was able to see the health, mana, mini-map and other info like quests and settings.

Strangely enough, the settings and quests were greyed out. Even the mini-map had fog. I was not able to see the entire landscape like I was able to when I was an alpha tester.

"Settings," I slowly muttered hoping it would work.

'Nothing happened. If it's greyed out, I can't use it?'

'hmm… can I use anything else besides the HUD?..'

I yelled out another command.

"Console."

This time a window opened up.

As a level one system administrator, one of the privileges I had was the console window which allowed the user to see log messages or run a script during run time to test patches.

"Tail log."

Command failed.

After trying about 10 commands, I finally got a success.

Spotting the table in front of me, I yelled.

"Inspect element."

Object: table

Material: teak wood

Dimensions: 1200 x 600 x 750

Soon afterwards, I got a message:

New skill learnt: Inspect

'I guess that shortens the process....'

Looking at the mirror, I could only sigh at my scrawny body.

'Now that I think about it, my face kind of resembles my mum's.'

I had very dark blue almost black hair and blue eyes unlike my mum's black hair and golden eyes. Maybe I got it from my dad?

Taking a deep breath, I activated the skill on myself.

"Inspect."

[Name: Noah

Level: 1 (10/100)

Class: None

Title: None

Grade: G-

State: Poisoned

Affinity:

Fire: 10%

Health: 27/100 Mana: 100/100

Strength: 15 Stamina: 20

Agility: 10 Intelligence: 15

Dexterity: 5 Charm: 5

Luck: 1

Stat Points: 0]

'I am poisoned? I don't think I've had anything else but the food at the orphanage. Although Miss Brooke was horrible at cooking, she wasn't one to poison anyone. I need to investigate this later.'

'What else can I do…'

"Update element."

New skill learnt: Distort

I tried changing the dimension of the table through the console but was without luck.

I tried activating the distort skill as well, but it failed as well. With an attempt to retrace, I tried to Inspect once more, but somehow that failed as well. Only then did I realize that my mana was now close to nil.

Breaking my thought process, a loud voice resounded in the small room.

"NOAH!" The door opened with Miss Brooke yelling loudly.

Miss Brooke was the sole caretaker of the orphanage. She had quite a large figure and had a commanding voice. There wasn't a single kid in the orphanage who could rebel against her. Her words were the law here.

Nodding slightly, I left the room.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see the quests available unlike before.

'Was there a condition for it to show up now?'

Opening up the quests panel, a much familiar list appeared.

|—— Investigate Poisoning

|—You have found yourself poisoned by an unknown assassin. Investigate and punish the wrongdoer.

|—Quest Clear Condition: Identify the assassin and subdue him

|—Time Limit: 6 months

|—Quest Clear Rewards: 10 Stat Points

|—Quest Failure Result: There is a high probability of death by assassination next time. -1 All Stats.

Quest cannot be declined.

|—— Daily Quest: Eat Healthy I

|— Eat up and grow strong.

|—Quest Clear Condition: Eat 1800 calories per day.

|—Time Limit: 1 day

|—Quest Clear Rewards: 1 Stat Point

|—Quest Failure Result: State: malnutrition. -1 Random Stat.

Quest cannot be accepted in weakened state.

|—— Daily Quest: Grow Stronger I

|— Exercise and grow strong.

|—Quest Clear Condition: 0.5 km run. 5 push ups

|—Time Limit: 1 day

|—Quest Clear Rewards: 1 Stat Point

|—Quest Failure Result: State: malnutrition. -1 Random Stat.

Quest cannot be accepted in weakened state.

'Is there a condition for each of the greyed out options to appear?'

Expanding the full list of menu, I was able to see the full UI floating in front.

|— Map

|— Quests

|— Inventory

|— Skills

|— Gameplay

|— Store (Greyed)

|— Settings (Greyed)

The maps, quests, skills and gameplay page were pretty much greyed out.

Opening up the inventory, I was able to see a bracelet. Although it looked dark, I was able to recognise it with a single look.

Taking out the bracelet in my hand, I closed my eyes trying to remember the shape and warmth of the hand, determining myself to find my way back to her.

Taking a deep breath of air, I continued towards the woods after keeping the bracelet safely back in my inventory.