"So... who are you?" Shyam asked, genuinely curious about who the figure—which could talk, float and even disappear at times—was.
"I am Raitha, an ii, specially designed to assist you in your journey. Think of me as an accessible AI and interactable as well."
"Raitha, huh? Okay then. And also, please don't call me master, it's embarrassing—just call me Shyam," Shyam said, trying to act friendly, though the sadness could still be heard just from his words.
"As you command, master! Shyam it is then!"
Raitha said, her voice as cheerful as an assistant should always be. Her tone and behaviour were set perfectly, as if the gods themselves took days making just her. If she was a fairy, she was the most beautiful out of them all.
"Okay, so do you know where we are?" Shyam asked, scanning through the forest.
"We are actually in the forest of Taralaya, specifically Nilgram. You can check the details and places on the MAP menu," Raitha said as she brought out a blue plain box out of nowhere. It glowed and there seemed to be some texts and a structure printed there. Upon closer look, that blue box seemed like a digital MAP, just like NoonleMAPS from his world.
"Hmm, so this Taralaya is a city, eh? And I am currently near Nilgram which is a village that has—blue blooming flowers?" Shyam whispered as he viewed the map in front of him. With a normal sigh, he asked again,
"So, what am I supposed to do now?"
Raitha's small green eyes lit up as if she had been waiting for this very question.
"Well, for starters, you should level up a bit and then visit Nilgram. From there you can go to the other villages as well."
"Level up?" Shyam asked. He had played quite a few RPG games before in his world. But still, it was reality, so could he actually level up? Just like game characters do?
"Yes, level up. Mostly every activity can earn you XP, which then can be used to level up. Right now you are at zero level, which means you can't fight right now. So, complete the daily tasks shown here to gain XP," Raitha said as she brought up another pop-up window. This time, unlike the previous one, it was a window full of texts and checkboxes.
• Walk two kilometres { 45 XP }
• Harvest five wild medicines (Condition - Grass type only) { 55 XP }
"Hmm, both seem pretty easy to me. Nilgram is 7 km away to the north, right?" Shyam said as he took the first step in his endless journey—which would eventually lead him to places he hadn't seen before, learn things he hadn't known before, and experience things he hadn't before.
A step forward to become the traveller who has seen everything.
"How do you know which is a medicine and which is just grass?" Shyam asked as he tried inspecting every long grass he saw. He wasn't a master of medicines, nor had he ever known how herbs look.
"Well, you can use your 'Herbseer' skill to highlight your nearby herbs and get information on them if you want," said Raitha as she walked right beside Shyam.
"First of all, how? And secondly, if you can fly, why are you walking, eh?" Shyam asked, simply shocked—or rather jealous—that his assistant could fly, yet she wasn't. Why? Only she knows.
"I can walk, I can run, I can fly whenever I wish to! Anyway, just say the name of the skill and it should automatically activate. Also, some skills like Dash require MP, LP or even real money to activate, so check before using it. But Herbseer doesn't need any of that though," Raitha explained.
"Okay, so... HERBSEER!" Shyam said out loud and suddenly a hollow light released from his body in all four directions, and some plants started glowing greener, and some blue. A few tabs opened up above the herbs as well, which seemed to have information upon the herb.
"Let's see..."
• Mint
• Mint is a plant with cold property. Its scent can attract some special bugs and its coldness could potentially kill someone if eaten too much. Can be used for cool medicines such as energy pills.
• Rarity – Common –
• Can be found in dense forests, light forests or places where it's cold with less sunlight and more shade, but a little heat is still necessary.
"Mint, huh?" Shyam whispered as he picked it up with his two fingers.
"Let's see if the task progressed or not. Hey Raitha, open tasks window," Shyam said, curious if the task bar had counted the herb he just picked up. Luckily it had, so now Shyam only needed to harvest four more herbs and walk two kilometres—after which he could level up and find more ways to level up.
Around two hours later:
• Reward claimed - 45 XP
• Reward claimed - 55 XP
• Level increase by - 1 - Now at - 1 -
• Skill acquired - Dash / Activation Skill -
• Skill acquired - Field Sense / Passive Skill -
"Whoa, two skills at once? Cool. So like Dash is supposed to make me run like many metres away in an instant, but what does Field Sense do?" Shyam asked. He had heard the term 'Dash' before—in video games or anime, etc.—but Field Sense? He hadn't heard that skill name before.
"Oh! That? That is a passive ability, so you don't need to worry about shouting that name in public. As for its use, it can sense nearby danger and alert you in advance. But if the target is stronger than you, then Field Sense might fail you. Keep your guard up!" Raitha said, explaining both how passive skills worked and what Field Sense can do.
Shyam was now curious—could he fight now? He had levelled up by one, so maybe?
"So, can I fight now?" Shyam asked. He was excited to have his first fight with a monster in a fantasy world.
But before Raitha could respond to Shyam, a sudden attack from the right of Shyam slashed right through the thick air, like the atmosphere had already surrendered.
"What the—?" Shyam said as he prepared for an intense fight, but instead a clingy, stinky slime showed up.
It bounced like it was a boxer and it shot slime as well. The slime it shot wasn't any normal slime but a dangerous poisoned slime—and sharp enough to cut him in half at once. Send him to Yamapuri again.
"Oh no you won't!" Shyam shouted as he ran closer to the slime and kicked it hard!
It flew into the air like instead of a slime it was a bird.
"Whoa, I am so strong," Shyam whispered as he ran again to hit it. He was having fun, while the slime—who thought it could win against Shyam—never wanted to die so badly before.
It was here to kill Shyam, not get played by him.
After being kicked a few more times, it finally gave up and accepted its fate: death.
• 75 XP
A system message flashed before his eyes. He was almost level two now.
"Hm, what's that?" Shyam said, staring at an unusual gem which appeared out of nowhere where he had killed the slime.
"Oh that! That's actually an energy stone. You can sell it to the Adventurer Guild or the Merchant Guild. Both will pay almost the same price. The bigger the better," Raitha explained as she picked up the gemstone and consumed the energy in it.
"Shouldn't I have sold it?" Shyam said, staring strictly at Raitha, who ate the energy stone like an afternoon snack.
"The price for an energy stone this small would be so less, you wouldn't even wanna look at it. So I consumed the energy. Someone has to clean the mess, right?" Raitha said proudly, as if she had done a great job doing so.
Shyam didn't really mind all that much, but he wanted to look at it more closely before he did anything with it. Putting it all aside, he walked towards Nilgram, the village. On the way, he found not one, not two, but over four more slimes, and now he had finally reached level 2's peak—almost level 3.
Before he could farm more XP, he could already see some buildings very far away. He thought of nothing else and quickly walked towards them.
There was no border, nor was there any knight who stood proudly to protect his village. All he saw was a big tree filled with blue flowers, all reaching the ground and glowing like crystals.
"Okay, my first step—the Adventurer's Guild. But before that, will the people of this world understand me?" Shyam murmured, but Raitha heard him as she had transformed herself into a small little unseen blue particle.
"Don't worry, the Yam Dut who reincarnated you has already taken care of that. No matter the language, all languages will be translated for you and your language will automatically be translated to them. Although to them it'll seem like you're speaking that language."
"Is that so? Good then," Shyam said before stepping inside the doors of the Adventurer Guild.