NOVEL WEB Chapter 4 – Accepting Reality
I felt panic rising in me--if I think about it, I don’t know how to log out. I didn’t receive an explanation, or even the most basic tutorial.
How do I return to reality?
“Log out…” I murmur.
Nothing happened.
“Log Off. Close. Interrupt. End. Menu. Open. Save. Terminate.”
Still nothing.
Then I begin off everything that I can think of, but nothing happens--I can’t return to reality.
No, rather…is this really a game?
My senses begin to scream at me that this place is, without a doubt…real.
It’s impossible that it’s a dream.
Now that I think about it, that this is too perfect to be a Virtual Reality. Especially since I don’t have anything to run VR on, and the Oculus Rift isn’t anywhere near this advanced.
And when I played with a friend’s VR, it was very easy to distinguish from reality--and everything is indicating that this is real. This is reality--but there is a reason why I still feel the seed of doubt.
I use appraisal and look at myself.
It’s because of the floating window…which should be impossible in real life--however, I look down and see the blood coating my clothing; the faint metallic taste of blood lingering in my mouth.
If this was a game, things like blood and corpses disappear.
Suddenly I remembered the warnings that I ignored when I tried to play what I thought was a browser game--warnings that I had thrown away ‘this world’ to ‘live in another’.
I can’t help but feel the panic rising again, my nausea returning.
It can’t be true…
There’s a reason why I can’t log out, why I can’t return to reality…because I am already in reality.
“Excuse me.”
The chief’s sudden voice caused me to jump, I quickly turned to him.
He had a large wooden tub, from which steam is rising.
“Please wipe yourself with this hot water, use this towel.” He puts a clean, folded towel on the ground, “A change of clothing has been prepared.”
He places a simple set of tunic and long pants on the bed, before leaving the room, shutting the door.
Seeing I was alone, I take off my clothing and dip the towel in the hot water, wiping myself down. There is blood all over my clothing, like I have been sprayed with a hose--which sprayed blood instead of water.
There’s no sign that it’s going to disappear, no matter how much time passes.
This isn’t a game…so, of course, it won’t disappear.
I let out a breath, moving the towel on autopilot, the water in the tub turning crimson.
I have to accept this--I realize now that I had known from the beginning, but was just escaping reality.
My breathing shook, and my eyes blurred. I almost threw up, barely managing to hold it in…I killed--real people…I know that they would have killed me if they had the chance, but I had never killed a person before; my grandparents had a farm and I had killed some of the animals, but never humans.
I have to accept this.
This is my reality.
I killed people, while thinking that it was just a game event…but the sensation of Excalibur still remains in my hand. But--this is another world, where thieves just randomly attack…I will very likely have to kill again.
This isn’t Earth, this isn’t my peaceful world--I will have to adjust…I have to remember, if I kill people trying to kill me, I have no reason to feel regret or guilt--and I will do everything I can not to kill innocents or people who don’t deserve it.
There is no reason to be depressed or worried; even though I am thinking this…I still feel nausea, my limbs are trembling, and tears are streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks.
By tomorrow, I will be stronger--I will be able to change, to live in this new world.
If I didn’t kill the thieves, they would have killed me.
I breathe deeply once more, splashing water on my face, and prepare myself--This is reality--This is my new world. To live, I may need to dirty my hands…
This reminds me, there is another reason to think that this place is influenced by the settings I have chosen. I try to think about the character screen--which appears in my mind. I am able to select options by using my desires; it appears that resetting my Skills and Bonus Points appears to be possible.
Then I noticed that my number of Bonus Points became 5--I used all of them before. I wonder where they came from…I wonder if I got 1 Bonus Point per level?
For the time being, I have managed to regain control of my feelings, and I close my Character Screen.
I change into the clothes that the village chief brought me. The tunic and long pants are large, they are both indigo. Luckily, I had a belt with me, so I could wear them, though I had to roll up the pants.
They are very uncomfortable compared to my normal clothing, but they are definitely wearable.
I have placed Excalibur into my ring…a storage ring is one of the coolest things in most stories--personal space where anything could be stored, and it should be impossible for people to steal the contents.
Excalibur, however, is a very dangerous sword…and a very expensive looking sword--I have the feeling that I should keep it stored most of the time and use a normal sword until necessary.
I open my Character screen, I notice I have barely enough Bonus Points, I can lower some of the resistances I got--since I don’t seem to need them--and get a third Class.
As I concentrate on my Classes, a screen appears:
Villager - Lv5; Thief - Lv5; Hero - Lv1
It increases by one, and for some reason, it is…Hero. Heroes are bad in books--they are brain-dead Justice idiots…I don’t want to end up like that; but I use Appraisal on it.
Hero - Lv1
Effect: Increased HP (15%) - Increased MP (15%) - Increase Physical Strength (+3 Strength) - Increased Stamina (+2 Stamina) - Increased Wisdom (+1 Wisdom) - Increased Intelligence (+2 Intelligence) - Increased Agility (+ 3 Agility).
Skill: Overwhelming
That’s incredible--Hero seems to be a cheat Class…But it seems to appear because I saved the village. But, if it was so easy to get the Class, wouldn’t there be a lot of people with it?
I can’t be the only one who has saved a village, or saved people.
Out of curiousity, I tried to change my first Class to Hero, but it didn’t work--I could only have Villager or Thief as my first Class. I wonder why?
The effect of Villager is +2 Stamina, with no skills.
So, I keep the third Class as Hero.
The effects from Hero is ridiculously powerful--it can’t be compared to Villager or Thief.
The Effect of Thief is +3 Agility, so it’s not useless.