Beginner's area (III)

He spent little effort in raising the weapons' compatibility to level 2, because the lower the level the easier to improve it. But to raise his own level to 3, he had to invest long hours, since the dummies weren't the most efficient way, though the safest. He had even used his portable tent to sleep, exhausted.

All the time he had been using the blessing and the rabbit skill, because none of them was at its highest compatibility level, as well as cast the healing every time he got hurt and had enough mana. Now, they were at 4, 8 and 7, respectively. He had also discovered the exhaustion of using too many skills, as well as nothing special when running out of mana, beyond a sense of emptiness.

After leveling up, he unblocked an ice spell equivalent to the fire one, so he could now cool his drink. There was also a skill that allowed him to quickly dodge backward, but consuming a quarter of his stamina. It is worth mentioning that the name of the spell, Frozen Touch, was similar to the equivalent of fire, Burning Touch, and that he considered their names moderately acceptable.

Finally, he had decided to level up his low healing spell to 10, by hitting the stone wall with his fist and healing afterwards, as the spell increased the compatibility much more if it had any effect. As painful as it was and although maybe later it will no longer be useful, his life could depend on it meanwhile. He also tested the fist with fire and ice, and although the damage was greater in the target, it had no effect in his training, just a waste of mana.

And it didn't stop casting the blessing or the rabbit skill every time that their effect ended, in order to train them. He also used the dodging skill if he had enough energy and, when running out of mana and energy, he simply rested, checked the inventory, tried unsuccessfully to understand the ins and outs of spells and skills, or remembered the past, or Melia.

With some bitterness, he remembered how he had suffered after leaving the game, as he had blamed himself for being so weak as to feel a kind of abstinence syndrome from a game or for missing an NPC, something he now saw in another way. On the other hand, he hadn't blamed himself for missing Gjaki or Goldmi, since they were real people, no matter that they only spoke through the game.

He remembered how once he had even been standing in front of a shop, thinking about buying a game to help him forget this one, although a small accident behind him had made him forget about it, disregarding that idea forever.

He smiled at the comic memory of a woman and a teenage girl in a Gothic dress lying on the floor, after being distracted and having collided. Perhaps the most amusing thing had been the embarrassed face of the two, how they had apologized to each other and how they had quickly left the place, fleeing from the eyes of those present and their own sense of ridicule.

He felt a little guilty of laughing at the misfortunes of others, although it had not been too serious and ...

"Isn't it the funniest universal gag?" he self-justified.

He also looked at the skills he still couldn't use, tried ice and fire with all the weapons, and even tried to mix both of them, with very little success. It must be said that the arrows with ice didn't turn out to be a good combination, since they didn't fly too far.

He also tried different high-level weapons and armor, being unable to use any of them, as well as some suits. There weren't any problem with these, but neither any bonuses. Since suits only provided a cosmetic effect in the game, he only had the ones that Gjaki had made for him. It was one of her hobbies, and it was really impressive how many she had designed for her own use. He decided, however, to reserve them, fearing that they may be damaged, so for the time being he would wear that novice tunic.

It didn't stop surprising him the objects he kept in the inventory, although for now only the tent had been useful. To be able to keep something of that size in a virtual space, in which the weight, shape or size weren't an issue, was very practical. He only wished that he had bought more of them ingame, and some books to understand the laws of that world. But they hadn't had any interest back then.

Finally, he could not postpone it anymore. The benefit of training the blessing, the rabbit skill or the dodge, whose name Feline Response he preferred to ignore, wasn't enough to justify further delays. So, uneasy, he moved slowly towards the dark part of the dome, despite having the speed skill activate.

He looked at the dark area, which appeared to be made of a liquid material and even created waves when touched, as if it were water. Eldi swallowed again at the thought of crossing that mass of unknown matter.

He cast the blessing and the rabbit skill, to have them fully available if needed, and waited for the recovering of his mana and physical energy, wielding the two-handed axe, holding onto it to feel some security.

Finally, with his heart pounding, he advanced towards that liquid, leaving behind forever the ruins of the beginner's area and the security they provided, and heading towards a future of uncertain promises and dangers.