Chapter 3: Gathering Knowledge

The following in game morning came in a flash awakening to the apocalyptic sounds of the city as the screams of the injured and tormented once again filled the air.

After which my day carried on just how it had ended the day before...

Full of disappointment, when I was handed a bowl of thin soup for breakfast the spoon reverted into a twig, the bowl became a block of wood, and the contents changed back to their original form, water dropped down to the floor, along with carrots, potatoes, and grains of spices. Hurriedly I collected up the raw ingredients that I could before rushing off away from the inn.

So my limitation isn't restricted to just equipment or tools but even food items... it's good to see that their base forms remain rather than being turned all the way back into seeds but I'll need to create a base for myself somewhere so that I can "create" my own food, while continuing to collect materials to advance my own craft, but in the meantime I should hunt around to see if I can get anyone npc or otherwise to explain how to access my Inventory skill so I can at the very least haul around more supplies without needing to worry about how to carry them.

When I returned for the first time to the square I was "summoned" to in the very beginning, having sighted a handful of parties huddling up to hold strategy meetings with one another.

"Ummm excuse me, can i ask a question?"

"Huh what a kid... wait a Shadow Elf huh?" <Adventurer>

"Uh yeah, do you mind if i ask a question I can't see to figure out how to work my Inventory skill"

"Oh you one of those huh, don't worry bud you aren't along plenty of us setup limitations that were taken far to seriously"

"Yeah take it from me, I signed up as a swordsman so I figured I'd be safe to limit myself to never using ranged weapons then I made the mistake of throwing my sword at an Orc, only for it to disappear into thin air upon leaving my hand"

"Oh yeah that sucks, but I think I shot myself even more in the foot..."

"You say that but just how bad did you set yourself up kid?"

Again with the kid thing, but oh well their helping me out so no point correcting them

"I can only use things I create myself..."

"Bwaaa have you left the city yet?"

"Well I went out yesterday for most of the day"

"How the hell did you survive with a build like that?"

"I don't know I was lucky I guess?"

"Ok well with a limitation like that though you're gonna be way behind the times since you cant operate the menu i bet, or even use the tutorial"

"... ... ..."

"Don't worry kid, we'll answer what we can for you"

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth I didn't bother holding back on the questions I wanted to ask, since I cannot access the program I might as well gather what info I can out of them since they are here.

Thanks to the party I learned the basics, first of being that this Beta is being played at the end of the world (current player belief is that we are playing the end of the game rather than the beginning) The Demon lord and his army have already conquered much of the world and this city and surrounding territory are the last bastion of freedom, but they are under constant assault prayers were performed and a hero summoning was conducted whereupon us 10,000 players descended from the heavens to aid them in their plight.

Thankfully the mass majority were combat oriented, but since the combat is far from what a level 1 player should encounter most of the deaths the first day were caused by players going solo, or parties getting ganked (PK'd) or caught up in traps.

The rest of their knowledge detailed how all the NPC's are adaptable AI so every conversation will affect other who come after you to speak with them, the menu itself is pretty useless for anything other thank logging out.

(Well since I can't use the menu myself I guess I'll need to wait for the mandatory logout after 7 days, at the very least I'm glad I can access my status screen by closing my eyes even though I didn't create that screen itself)

Afterwards I was taught the basic Elder Tongue required to access my Inventory, though when I chanted the words nothing happened, this of course was met with a chorus of laughter as nobody gets it the first time they try to speak a foreign language.

With all that wrapped up I wished the party luck on their days hunts, before setting off myself towards the gate to return once again to my forest playground to test out my inventory and continue on my crafting to increase my experience and locate other possible materials I could use to craft.

Once again when I left the city I was gawked at pretty hard by other players but also the guards as well, but well from their perspective I would look like a little slum child off to hunt for whatever food I could with my shabby rack, and baskets.

The journey through the scarred wasteland was rather quick since the entire journey I was self absorbed in practicing the few Elder Tongue words I had been taught trying to get the phrasing and pronunciation just right.

finally confident in my linguistic skills I declared the spell aloud right as I reached the cusp of the lush green forestland.

~Call Forth Inventory~

*Flash*

The visual before me changed in an instant from the sprawling forest to what instead looked like the inside of a shed with a handful of shelves lining the walls.

"Huh so this is my inventory I take it, if it works just like the others said then time should stop when I'm in here, but I can't do anything other than withdrawing or depositing things, and no matter if I move physically around the space once I leave I'll be exactly where I was before chanting.

Having taken a quick gander around the empty space I did spy only a single content in the entire Inventory, a small thin notebook which when I picked it up and opened the cover crafting recipes for stone knives, axes, and wicker baskets were listed.

Now if this was like a normal rpg just possessing the recipe would allow you to create the items in question but since only the items I've create are listed as recipes it's possible new things will be added as I create them, but then what's the point of the book?

For now I'll just take it with me, and test things out in the forest.

Ok so for today we'll craft a handful more stone knives that I can turn to simple income with the copper bits I'll wind up with, next up would be experimenting with those weed/herbs I picked before, perhaps I can make potions or poultices, as weak as I am I'll need something to aid in recovery should something happen.