《Cyan Sky》 Prologue: The Old World "So, legally speaking, we need to confirm that your son knows that you¡¯re considering¡­ alternative metods." ¡°No¡­*sob* He doesn¡¯t even wanna see us anymore, I don¡¯t even...¡± a woman cried. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t agree, I¡¯ll skin him alive and make him agree,¡± a man next to her filled in. ¡°I see. Well, the situation is quite clear, really - promising, handsome, young man, top grades, national sports team, would be a real waste to let cancer steal him away. Now, we¡¯re gonna to through that door, and convince this lovely young man not to give up on life, you ready?¡± ---- The day was a any other day at the ward. Three feelings could sum it all up: pain, loneliness and regret. William had had it, the fight had gone on for longer than it should¡¯ve already. But with Chemo came the honeyed hopes, the happy eyes of friends when he said there was a chance...Giving up on life was just too hard, especially with regret lurking in the back. Who wanna life a life never lived? A life wasted living the perfect life? Had the treatments worked, Will would¡¯ve spit his dad in the face, never to live another man¡¯s dreams ever again. But alas, it was too late. It was just death left for him now. Death and pain. Three quick knocks and a courteous second or two announced the three visitors. It was mom, dad and some stranger. All dressed awkwardly formal for a hospital visit. It¡¯s not my funeral yet, dammit! William frowned. Williams parents hadn¡¯t visited for a good week since last time. Good. Three or four more visits was enough for a lifetime anyways. ¡°Will¡­.,¡± his mom began. ¡°We sold the company, William.¡± His dad said, avoiding eye contact. ¡°Mum, Dad¡­ what?¡± Dad started a lengthy monologue, soon interrupted by mom: ¡°We love you son, and we¡¯ve decided to do everything we can to help you. We care about you, not money. Carl...would you?.¡± The stranger nodded and crouched down next to him. ¡°So, kiddo, you¡¯re into tech. Heard about mr Emon Lusk and his latest startup?¡± ¡°Well, yeah, ehm, which one¡­?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Ha! Exactly kid, exactly!¡± I¡¯ll tell you - you¡¯ve got two options if you wanna keep on existing in our general definition of spacetime, so listen closely :¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°Number One, we upload your mind you to the cloud¡­¡± ¡°What!!! Mom, Dad, what the fuck? Seriously?¡± ¡°Will¡­¡± ¡°Oww kiddo, chillax not so fast - we¡¯ve got all the time in the world¡­ for this month, maybe next too... Anyhow, grey matter screening is less invasive than ever, you¡¯d keep your awareness, there¡¯s no pain¡­ they could even simulate some cool music in your auditory cortex while at it, how cool isn¡¯t that? Music streamed straight into Conciousness¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ll pierce electrical needles into my brain, thousands of electrified needles!¡± ¡°...They¡¯re nanotubes¡­ and not thousands - billions. Quite a few, sure, but your brain won¡¯t feel a single one of them. ¡± ¡°Oh yeah, great. You¡¯ll cut my head open, but it¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll die, but at least it won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°Please mind you, cancer is also a rather fatal procedure, I¡¯m just going through your options here kiddo, no need to stress out.¡± ¡°The answer is no.¡± ¡°You would be an entrepreneur though, one of the first digital migrants. Imagine that! Immortality! The adventure would be endless.¡± ¡°But the adventurer wouldn¡¯t be me. I¡¯d be dead, and there¡¯d be a digital approximation of me on some usb stick, making Mom and Dad happy. Isn¡¯t that what this is all really about!?¡± They want a fake me to fake things? Are you the same person when you¡¯re online? Are you the same person as the Will that went to bed yesterday? What if you were born five minutes ago into this hospital bed, huh, given a bunch of false memories? I mean, you can¡¯t tell! Come on, never had a blackout hangover in your life? Don¡¯t let metaphysics get in your way.¡± ¡°They say fifteen years... and they¡¯ll be able to do something with your scan. Maybe you could live in some cool MMORPG world, level up, all the good stuff, or maybe you could live inside of one of those human like robots - move, talk, fuck; the whole package. Live in the real world, I-R-L. Man, have you seen the japanese sex toy ones? Almost better than real life, and that could be you..¡± ¡°I mean¡­ robots kid. You could have a new life. Pick up fencing again, hey? Maybe they¡¯ll even let robots into the olympics, screw Robophobes man, your dreams are still alive. Just say you identify as a girl and you¡¯ll be set. Why the murky face, you should be planning for your future, not your death.¡± ¡°What about option two?¡± Well, Option two is our state of the art Wim Hof method. Negative Eighty degrees centigrade, with the safest thawing method known to man. I know, you can¡¯t uncook a frozen egg, but our metod is about as close as it will ever get. Lemme ask you something kid. Do you believe in human progress?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Will looked at the madman, wondering who the heck had convinced his parents, his dad especially, to do this. ¡°Excellent! Positivistic positivism, just the way I like it to hear it! Say living as a robot isn¡¯t good enough - you want everything or nothing. Well, if not everything today, why not everything tomorrow, or next year. Or in thirty. The cure to cancer is always thirty years away. And a lil¡¯ bath in antifreeze and liquid nitrogen might be the perfect spa for you to spend those years. It¡¯s not fifteen, but hey, thirty years, plus...say, maybe another thirty to get you out of the freezer in one piece, it¡¯s still not a bad deal¡­¡± ¡°My answer is still NO, now piss off and let me die in peace.¡± The story would¡¯ve ended here, but Carl wouldn¡¯t piss off. 1. The future-ish China. Groundbreaking work in miniature robotics has taken place as a team, led by prof. Lin ShaoQiao delivered proof of concept on the promising Fungal Cell Engineering (FCE.) This new technology will allow for large scale production of robots measuring in the micrometers. Critics of the technology warn of unpredictable ¡°black swan¡± incidents, but have thus far lacked substance in their theories. It is ,however, proven that micro robots could pollute the environment, as they are smaller than most air-vent filters. These ¡°controllable risks¡± are nevertheless ¡°vastly eclipsed by the prospect improvement in medical treatment and nano scale manufacturing,¡± according to mr. Lin. Who also points out that silicon particles surpassing 5 mg/m3 is impossible outside of a heavy industry setting. -The Daily Swipe, early second millennia. Will woke up, his only lung burning as always. Ever waking up again wasn¡¯t expected, but he opened his eyes anyways. The room was a dark blurr - It was likely night. He tried to stretch his body, but he couldn¡¯t move...much¡­ at all. His rattling still stirred some commotion however. Steps came his way. Steps? There shouldn¡¯t be steps in his room, not at this time. A stranger touched his head and whispered something that was definitely not english. What the... He had sort of come to terms with dying, but those terms didn¡¯t include shadows in the bedroom. As anyone who¡¯s ever been four years old at least once can tell, shadows in the bedroom is about as bad as it gets. As the stranger mumbled, something lit up in his blurred vision. He wanted to scream, but a paralyzing chill quickly spread though his body. He was agitated, but this chill... it was so comfortable, so relaxing. The strange light was quickly blocked by a curtain of well-sealed eyelids. He hadn¡¯t felt this sleepy since before he got sick... --- ¡°Hello kid, how are you feeling?¡± a voice rang, piercing the land of dreams. ¡°Can¡¯t you cast the spell again? This one¡¯s sleeping like a bear.¡± ¡°I think we should wait a bit, the spell is lightning based¡­¡± ¡°Just do it man, this takes ages and i¡¯ve got a date with Jenny!¡± A strange touch jolted Will awake. His heart pounded like never before, panicking in his half awakedness, he let out a defensive roar, ready to punch whoever had startled him What the heck was going on? His room was¡­ this wasn¡¯t his room. Gone was the hospital setting - he was in a fancy stone building with a wooden floor and roof. There were no lamps in the roof, instead there were torch sticks stuck to the walls, shining with an eerie green light. He wasn¡¯t even in the bed he remembered falling asleep in, and why had someone covered him with an animal fur? This barely registered to Will though, as all his focus scrutinized the men in front of him. They were very much not doctors, nor nurses for that matter. ¡°Dude, you totally over-did it, what the fuck?¡± the first man complained. ¡°I told you it was a bad idea!¡± ¡°Well, Peter did it to me twice when i was hung over, and it worked perfectly. How bad is your spell, really? Level three?¡± ¡°Level one. Who the heck levels a wake-up spell?¡± the second man countered, follow by a short and very weird silence. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll deal with the mess you made here anyways. Don¡¯t you have other ice boys to wake up?¡± the first man grunted, turning to the hyperventilating brawler in the bed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, no one''s gonna hurt you, you¡¯re safe and all that. You can lower your guard kid. ¡° ¡°What the fuck is this!!? Where is this!? Who the heck are you?! And no! You stay back!¡± ¡°Alright, alright. Well, first of all, welcome to the future¡­-ish. My name is Dennis, and I¡¯ll be your guide. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Secondly, you¡¯re alive, cured and well. Ya cancer¡¯s gone. Boom! Just like that. Congratulations! It¡¯s okay to be confused. I was surprised too! Cryostasis man¡± The stranger shaked his head. ¡°Who the heck thought it would actually work?¡± Will glimpsed through his guard. The man seemed honest, but his words didn¡¯t make sense. He had been asked to consider cryostasis... or mind-uploading a few weeks back, but he had declined that quackery. That snake oil salesman had been hella suspicious. Was he behind this? Panic struck. Will reached for his stomach. No, no new scars on his stomach. Both kidneys were definitely still there. A well known impulse stole his freedom; He coughed uncontrollably into his hand - no blood this time. ¡°What the heck man, why are you lying to me? This is clearly not the future, and I¡¯m still coughing! Cancer cured, my ass!¡± Will burst out, coughing a second time. His heart was still beating like crazy. ¡°Oh, the coughing?¡± The man asked. ¡°Yeah. It sucks, doesn¡¯t it? But it¡¯ll pass. Your lungs just aren¡¯t adapted for mana yet. Oh, when on topic¡­ EY, RICKY, GET BACK HERE FOR A SECOND!¡± Stranger number two walked back Will, leaving a woman that seemed about at least as upset as Will was. ¡°We gotta show him some proof, or he¡¯ll look at us as if we¡¯re from the cuckoo''s nest all day.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know man, I was pretty low on mana to begin with, and there¡¯s three more to wake up. Druidic sleep spells, they¡¯re the real deal, I¡¯m telling ya!¡± ¡°Jesus! And you actually got this job!?¡± Dennis pushed the man aside,Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Opening his palm demonstratively. His moved his fingers slightly. It was just twitching, really. Then, he began murmuring, still glaring at his hand. Slowly a feint sphere of light, the size of a snookers ball, materialized above his hand. Will was caught off guard. It¡¯s surprisingly hard to be confused and furious at the same time. The the glowing orb was captivating. Shining with delicate tendrils, but also spinning somehow. It was as beautiful as a plasma globe, but more gentle and fragile looking. ¡°As you can see, there¡¯s a lot of questions to be answered,¡± Dennis explained. ¡° And I¡¯m here to make sure you don¡¯t walk out there as a complete jackass without anyone warning your about it first. Now first of all, are you familiar with fantasy video games?¡± Will got even more befuddled, he lowered his guard, hunched his shoulders and replied: ¡°Well, I guess?¡± ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve got that thing going for you, great...¡± Dennis said, giving him a smile, but as he did, the sphere of light flickered. Its sides disintegrated like burning paper, and it quickly imploded into a shining blue mist. ¡°Oh, fucking hell!¡± Dennis spat. He shook his hand around the smoke and stared at it intently. The smoke turned and twisted, but not much else happened. ¡°Oh, great! Now i gotta conjure a new one too, don¡¯t I?¡±he sighed. Will hunched his shoulders again, suprised by what he had just seen. ¡°Oh well, screw it... As i said, we¡¯re in the future now. A lot of water has flown since America had an Orange for President, so to speak. Really. A lot! I don¡¯t know how you imagine the future to be like, but at least I can tell you, I couldn¡¯t have been much more wrong myself when I woke up... It¡¯s the mana, everything has changed with it, it must¡¯ve. The future is like a god damned video game, I¡¯ll tell ya.¡± Have some clothes, will ya!¡± He threw a ball of cloth at Will. He put them on. Was it...linen? They were a bit itchy, had a few holes, but at least not in the wrong places. He was given a wooden mug full who knows what. Now to think of it, he was starving. He stood up and took a sip. *Cough* ¡°What the¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine man, as i told you, you¡¯re allergic to mana. We¡¯ll fix that tomorrow, but I would still drink that if I were you. You¡¯ll need the energy - you and I are going on a little sightseeing. Hesitantly, Will followed the man. Things were weird, but he was hardly kidnapped, was he? Wait, he was walking¡­? He hadn¡¯t done that for weeks! Dennis led him out of the bedded corridoor, down through a set of stairs and out to the blinding light of noon. He was in a great paved plaza, filled with medieval looking merchants, and surrounded by beautiful buildings in white stone. A medieval reenactment week, perhaps? Will still had a hard time making sense of things. He definitely felt neither drugged, nor dying, but the surroundings were of another world. Taking a fresh breath of air, he looked up into the sky. Breathing still hurt, but it was somehow different from before. Talking about different¡­ the sky wasn¡¯t as he remembered it. Twas greener than it should be - cyan almost. Yep, definitely cyan, just like the color you¡¯d use to reduce red hues in photoshop. What bizzare weather would change the color of a cloudless sky? William was perplexed, but if the sky startled him, the next thing in sight straight out shocked him. An enormous man with godlike physique crossed the street. Towering above the masses, he had to be at least three metres tall, and that was if you didn¡¯t even count his horns, yes, the man had horns - huge pieces of bone spiraling out from his skull. He was awe reincarnated. Contrasting his handsome body though, his jaw and nose were severely malformed, together almost snout like in appearance, and his eyes sat unaesthetically far away from each other. His ears were pointy and curved, more those of an animal than the elven variety you¡¯d find in a fantasy movie. The beast of a man was a freak of nature, but no one around seemed to notice him. ¡°Dude, it may be the future, but it¡¯s still impolite to stare at people.¡± Dennis shook him back to his senses. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Will responded, acting as normally as anyone trying to act normal could - not much at all in other words. The new things to see instead of the giant wasn¡¯t helping his composure either. The giant wasn¡¯t alone towering above the masses, and the masses weren¡¯t as normal as Will had blindly assumed. Eyes were weird. Noses were too big. Hair grew on places it definitely shouldn¡¯t be. And then there was the smell. The people on the streets were as non-human as human could be. As they walked down the alley, the houses changed. White stones were replace by grey ones, and eventually wood. Everything was smaller as they went on, including the the people. The only thing that grew in size as they walked was an enormous wall of stone. Whenever Will though they were close, he looked up to see that no, they still weren¡¯t, but the wall had yet again grown a few metres. As the wall towered higher and higher up towards the sky, faces on the ground turned more and more normal, fewer and fewer had their faces distorted by animalistic traits. Eventually, they came to an enormous gate, with hunky guards to match. These were as big as they came, it seemed. One of them had an impressive set of tusks, protruding a good two decimetres from his lower jaw; the other sported a mighty set of antlers. Neither of the guards even seemed to notice Dennis and Will. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re finally here! Welcome to Eastgate!¡± Dennis smiled. The left side of the gate was crammed with wooden shacks - big and small. Some of the buildings could maybe pass as houses, but most landed somewhere in between house and shack. ¡°You might think - oh no! A Slum. But I ensure you, kid, this is much better than what it seems like. This is a ghetto! A ghetto for people like you, me, and our kind...and our kids¡­and their kids. Come on! They had arrived to one of the bigger shacks, or house? At least it had two floors. It was the only inn of Eastgate, Dennis assured him. Was it an inn? What was an inn supposed to mean anyways. The inside was noisy. A combination of bar, youth center and home cooking restaurant. The place was like a 24/7 dorm party, and perfectly equipped too! The furnishing was made out of wood so thick, you¡¯d have to really go at it if you wanted to break anything. ¡°Alright, the owner here is second generation, so his english is kinda good.¡± ¡°Second generation what?¡± ¡°Second generation whatever you and I am. HEY WALT!¡± A fat bald man approached them. He wore a spotted apron, from his pocket hung a somewhat cleaner towel. The man himself could use a good round in a laundry mashine himself. ¡°Is this the new kid?¡± the man said in a funny accent. Dennis nodded. ¡°Welcome to mcDonald¡¯s!¡± the fat man said with a proud smile on his face. ¡°My dad was just like you, he told many deprived time stories,¡± he continued. ¡°He means deprived of mana,¡± Dennis filled in. ¡°Listen up guys, you two seem to get along, and I¡¯ve got an appointment to attend, so you better not make any trouble. I¡¯ll be back tomorrow morning. You¡­ what¡¯s your name by the way?¡± Dennis asked Will. ¡°Alright, William, tomorrow is your big day. You¡¯ve got an appointment with a higher up druid, and you¡¯d better not miss it. You could work your ass of for years and still not afford a meeting with one of those, you with me?¡± Will nodded, what else could he do. The druid would supposedly help him with his ¡°mana allergy¡± If he was offered an opportunity, he¡¯d take it. ¡°Great, I¡¯ll pick you up in the morning. Be there¡± ¡°Aah, you have mana allergy? the fat man asked smiling. ¡°Funny, just like my old man,¡± he chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°Just like my old man,¡± he smiled, pointing at a large oil portrait hanging from the ceiling. ¡°Have a seat, no one leaves mcDonald¡¯s with a flat belly. That¡¯s my family¡¯s motto.¡± 2. Druidic Appointment -- Will left McDonald¡¯s with Dennis. He had barely slept anything during the night. His head was full of thoughts, and the inn had been noisy until the small hours. They walked away from the wooden settlement, towards the great stone buildings. Looking into the distance, both areas were enclosed by a huge ring wall of stone. It felt unreal to Will. Tired as he was, and still rather shaken, it was like walking through a dream. As they got closer to the valleys of majestic buildings, a vast difference could be seen. The walk was paved with increasingly big and square stones. But stones didn¡¯t catch Will¡¯s eye - the people walking on them did. Towering giants, near twice his height, walked about, attending their morning errands. There was something eerie about all of them. They were all human, but almost all had malformed heads of different kinds, and their hair, longer and woolier than it should¡¯ve been, grew at places it definitely shouldn¡¯t. Several of them had horns, antlers, and tusks even. The finer the clothes, the more adorned the antlers. There wasn¡¯t a seconds doubt of who was more wealthy than the other; the cleaner your shirt, and the fewer the holes in it you had, the better off you were. As the stone buildings got higher and the streets more crowded with giant people, Dennis seemed a bit uneasy. They passed a plaza, full of stalls and merchants, most of them giants, and all of them shouting in a language unknown to Will. Twas weird, It was next to this plaza that Dennis knocked on a door, or gate rather. A few words later, they were let in and led to a stairwell. ¡°We¡¯re going all the way up¡± Dennis explained, and began climbing. The walk here had been somewhat taxing, but the stairs really did it. Will coughed through half the climb. Breathing really was a hassle. ¡°It¡¯s fine we¡¯re here to fix your allergy, remember¡±? Eventually, the stairs converged into a huge waiting hall. The walls were made of perfectly polished stone, each weighing at least a ton, the upper ones all arched seamlessly into a round roof. A door was opened, and a giant of a man stepped outside. His face was, unlike most other giants¡¯ almost perfect, maybe too perfect. A thick braid of hair stretched from between his gold plated antlers, passed a bare tattooed torso, and floated just above the floor. ¡°That¡¯s the druid¡± Dennis whispered cautiously. The druid looked at Will, his gaze piercing straight through his soul. ¡°You may enter now, man with one lung.¡± he druid said, his English accent was far worse than Walt¡¯s at McDonald¡¯s. Will followed the giant into an even greater room. Unlike the reception room, there were no windows, yet it was brighter. In each and every stone there were hundreds of intricate runic carvings. Many of them glew bright in shades of white and blue. ¡°Sit down,¡± the druid said, pointing at a pedestal in the center of the room. Will did as he was told, and the druid immediately got to work. On the floor surrounding Will were circular indentations. The Druid opened up several vials, and poured them into the small floor pouches. It smelled metallic. Will coughed. ¡°Sit still, no move!¡± the druid grunted. Will didn¡¯t see any reason to disobey someone four times his body weight, and tried his best. After a while, the druid nodded and continued his work. It was different now though, he was touching the runic walls. With each touch, a network of stones lit up. Finally he muttered something, stretched out his right hand, and suddenly, Will¡¯s foot left the ground and his body raised into the air. ¡°Be still,¡± the druid warned him. His face was stern and focused. Then it came, a blast of light, as the entire room exploded in white-blue shimmering. Something entered Will, he couldn¡¯t tell where, but something foreign invaded his body, pulsed through his blood. He felt sick. Unwillingly, his body started to spasm violently, his eyes wobbled on their own. The last thing Will saw was thousands upon thousands of runes blurring together as if unified. --- Something touched Will¡¯s forehead. ¡°You sure you can cast it again, he¡¯s quite the jumper, I¡¯ll tell you,¡± Dennis voice rang vaguely through Will¡¯s head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to, - this isn¡¯t your run of the mill sleep spell,¡± another voice explained. Will was touched again, the sleep, as well as any relaxation was ripped away from his senses. Yet again, he woke up in panic mode, hyperventilating. ¡°Damn, what level is that thing! You freaking electrocuted him. ¡± ¡°I did not, the man¡¯s just jumpy, like you said. My wake-up spell will hit level seven soon,¡± the non-Dennis voice responded. ¡°Holy cow, what¡¯s wrong with you? How do you even level it that far?¡± ¡°My wife¡¯s a big snorer...¡± ¡°Oh¡­ morning Will!,¡± Dennis half-shouted, suddenly remembering why he was there. --- Will opened his eyes, but instead of faces, se saw a blue rectangle floating in front of his vision. He tried to touch it, but his hand moved right through it.
Integrated UI successfully plantedStolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. You now have a Mana Vortex! Skill gained: User Interface, lvl 1 Skill gained: Mana Resistance, lvl 1 Skill gained: Mana Retention, lvl 1 Skill gained: Respiratory Mana Absorption, lvl 1 Skill gained: Gastrointestinal Mana Absorption, lvl 1 Skill gained: Imerian Translation Aid, lvl 1
What the heck did this mean? Had someone slipped him hallucinogens when he was out? Or¡­ what was it Dennis had said the day earlier...? ¡°It¡¯s ok Will. Seeing blue boxes is normal, there¡¯s nothing wrong with you.¡± Dennis said, as if knowing what Will was thinking. ¡°For how long was I gone?¡± Will asked. ¡°A little bit more than ten days or so. Hey! Don¡¯t look at me like that. You don¡¯t grow a new limb in a day!¡± A new limb? William did only have one lung left. He took a breath. Shock and euphoria filled his very soul. Breathing didn¡¯t hurt. ¡°You¡­ re-grew my lungs?¡± he said, as thankful as any man could be. ¡°No, sorry, that would cost you an arm and a leg to get fixed. ¡° ¡°What? But my cancer, it doesn¡¯t hurt when i breathe.¡± ¡°That was already cured, dumbo. He mutated your pancreas, probably some other parts of your DNA too. He also meddled a bit with your brain a little. Don¡¯t ask me how. I used to be super into how this kind of stuff worked, but that was like ten years ago. Point is that the world is like a computer game now. You¡¯re normal now, just like us.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ what? Why didn¡¯t you tell me of this? What did he do to me!?¡± ¡°Well, to answer the first part, i had a friend. I was tasked to help him get to know the new world after waking up, just like you. But this guy was crazy nervous. I told him a thing or two about druids...maybe three, so by the time he met the vice-vice something arch druid the guy was so nervous he couldn¡¯t even sit still. Something went wrong in that ritual, and the kid dida died. So that¡¯s why you couldn¡¯t know. ¡°What the¡­ Why didn¡¯t you tell me. You just took me to the druid as if it was a dentist appointment!? Aren¡¯t details like that exactly what you should be telling people? ¡°What can I say Will, at least you weren¡¯t nervous, and at least you didn¡¯t die¡­¡± ¡°What ...but! What the actual fuck! I thought you were my guide! I trusted you man! Will rose up. ¡°Nononono, calm your horses. Take a deep breath, that¡¯s good. Now tell me the druid didn¡¯t fix your mana allergy. Exactly! Breathing is fine. And as i¡¯ve already said several times, your cancer was cured way back when you were in in cryostasis. We gucci? Now, I¡¯ve got some more I need to tell you so I don¡¯t get sued if you end up doing something particularly stupid. Will calmed down. Maybe the weird ¡°spell¡± Dennis¡¯ friend had cast was wearing off. He still felt cheated though. What did Dennis mean exactly with the druid having ¡®messed with his brain¡¯? Following a few formally required instructions, most on the level of ¡°don¡¯t seal stuff,¡± ¡°pay off loaned money,¡± etc. Dennis gave Will a few metal coins and told him that¡¯s what was left of his ¡°allowance.¡± If Will needed more money he could always go look for a job or go ¡°report in to the druidic tower.¡± He didn¡¯t specify what the latter meant. ¡°Wait¡­ are you leaving me? How do I even get a job? How much money is this? Weren¡¯t you supposed to be my guide?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry kid, but if I got attached to each and everyone I helped out¡­ Let¡¯s just say it wouldn¡¯t work out for me. You¡¯ll be good for about three days on that coin. Maybe five if you stay at McDonald¡¯s. The owner there has a discount for first generation ancients. ¡°Oh, and there¡¯s one last thing. Don¡¯t die. The druids hate it when ancients like you die, and so do I because that¡¯s not good for my salary. The world¡¯s a computer game now, remember? And you have the shittiest race there is. Try to be as much of an NPC as you can, and you¡¯ll get by just fine. But don¡¯t leave the walls on your own. Level one critters have a special eye for weak ancients like you. They¡¯ll smell you out from mile away, am i clear?¡± Will nodded, and Dennis immediately turned around to leave. Well, so. Will was alone. He was alive. And he was supposed to treat the world like a computer game. It wasn¡¯t exactly what he had hoped for when he had started chemo, but it would have to do. In the end of things, he felt gratitude to getting a second chance at life. Will got out from his rented room, straight into the mess hall of McDonald¡¯s. No one seemed to mind him, but unlike last time, Will had a great interest in the people shouting over each other. Each time anyone said something, blue box subtitles showed up. He could understand what people were saying! The Subtitles overlapped each other, and it was near impossible to make out who said what, but it was way better than just hearing a slur of voices. Many of the people were upset. A few tried to change direction of conversation, but there was always someone around to return to topic: there was a murderer on the streets. ¡°I¡¯d stop taking in ancients, were I you,¡± someone said to Walt, the keeper. ¡°Yeah,¡± someone else said. ¡°They bring bad luck, keep em around and you might get killed too.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right! They took poor Vivianne the other week! She dated that fresh of the ice Ancient, and they were both murdered in broad daylight.¡± Walt confronted the worrisome crowd with a concerned face. ¡°This inn was founded by an ancient, and I am his son. If you have a problem with that, you should leave McDonald¡¯s right now.¡± He then turned to Will. Changing language to English. ¡°You¡¯re safe here, kid. There¡¯s always people around, and my father taught me one thing and another,¡± he said, revealing a dagger under his apron and nodded to the painting of his father. ¡°I can understand your language now,¡± Will explained. Walt nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good spell, you should level it.¡± ¡°How do I level things?, There¡¯s a lot that I don¡¯t know,¡± Will said modestly. ¡°Help me chop some onions and I¡¯ll answer whatever questions you have while you¡¯re at it.¡± ¡°First of all, there¡¯s mana. Mana is everywhere. It¡¯s in the air, it¡¯s in your food, and it¡¯s in you too. You get more mana by breathing it in, or by eating some.¡± Fair enough, it was just like ¡°the force¡± then, essentially. ¡°Your mana is stored in your Mana Vortex, or rather, in the crystal inside of it. All living things have crystals, although of various sizes. Yours is about as small as they come.¡± ¡°Mana Vortex, what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Mana Vortex is Mana Vortex. It¡¯s inside your stomach. The druids gave you it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, druids are secretive and expensive.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s spells. You learn spells from Masters or charged tablets. Spells are expensive, and leveling them is both hard and expensive.¡± ¡°What do they cost?¡± ¡°Buying them can cost anything from a hundred silver dollars. Some, you can¡¯t even buy with coins. Leveling them costs mana.¡± ¡°So, I can level up by just eating and breathing, that¡¯s great. Doesn¡¯t sound to hard.¡±? ¡°Nononono. Well, yes. Level one spells, maybe. But above that, leveling costs a lot of mana. You¡¯ll need outside mana for that. Most commonly in the form of crystals.¡± ¡°So, I need to kill things for crystals.¡± ¡°Ooh, an adventurous spirit, aren¡¯t we? Haha! Just like my old man! Well, yes, but no.¡± If you got out on adventures, a rabbit could probably kill you.¡± ¡°A rabbit, really?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Walt responded. ¡°My father said that he got out adventuring his first week. He was lucky to escape, but the jumpy rodents chewed off three of his fingers!¡± ¡°So, your dad was an adventurer?¡± Will asked. It seemed like the word had a special meaning. ¡°Yes and no. My father also liked cooking. He said that cooking helped him fight. And it did, he was really strong!¡± Will couldn¡¯t help to feel a bit of admiration for Walt¡¯s dad. He looked up at the portrait in the roof. It showed a muscular man with a thick brown beard. His left hand held a dagger, and his right made a ¡°V¡± sign with the only two fingers it had. Looking a bit closer, Will could see a tatoo on his cheekbones. One was droplets of tears, the other said ¡°YOLO¡± in capital letters. ¡°What was his name? Will asked. ¡°Walter mc Yolo.¡± And as according to your the ancient tradition, my name is also Walter mc Yolo. Walter mc Yolo Junior. Will tried really hard not to slap his forehead. Walter senior had really earned his name. Chopping onions with his son wasn¡¯t bad at all.