Chapter 1

Perspective

It took about 20 minutes for Hannah to buy and equip herself with the appropriate gear and supplies for an extensive stay in the forest. She had liked staying in this town, but after a bit more than a week she had gotten slightly bored with it, and now that she had found something interesting to investigate she had no real reason to stay. She could as easily stay in the forests and live off the land. Living off the land was one of the first things taught to her in the tribal village.

When she first started playing the game, she had been a bit perturbed by the limitations placed upon her by the so-called Tribal Elders, but she had persevered and completed all the training and tribe's trials, learning Skills and getting accustomed to her bestial form; it had taken her more than a day before her cat-like body had felt remotely like it belonged to her. The extreme changes in both her height and her limbs' length when she went from human form to her cat-form made it fairly difficult to coordinate her body and make it do as she wanted. She thought that was the reason for forcing all players that chose being of the Beast-tribes to go through that long tutorial before they actually got to go outside the village they first started in.

In her case the training and trials had truly been necessary, her body differed so much when she transformed that she had felt it was ridiculous those first few days. When she got used to her elongated feline form though, she was truly appreciative. Because she had a slimmer, longer body and longer limbs than most of the other players in her training-brood—as they called it in the tribe—she had been able to set the village records in the coordination trial and the speed trial. Setting those records had given her two very special Skills; the first one was the passive Skill Fluid Movement, which gave her a large boost in flexibility, but also, more importantly, gave her Experience every time she made an especially difficult bodily movement; the second skill was the active Skill Flash Step, it gave her the ability to increase her Movement Speed by over a thousand percent for a single step, but it wasn't as good as Fluid Movement because it consumed almost ten percent of her total Mana for every use.

Now the only strange thing she found about being half cat and half human was her unique trait which changed her fur during days and nights. During the night she had a shiny black pelt, but when the sun rose, her fur turned into a mottled pattern of yellows and light brown colors. The Tribal Elders had told her she had a special bloodline and some back-story she found too boring to listen attentively to. All she knew was that some of her basic Skills and Spells slightly changed depending on night or day.

It was mostly her Mana Manipulation that changed. During the night she could use her Mana with it and create a sort of barrier around her that diffused light, making her seem part of the darkness to a certain degree; during the day that ability changed into her being able to emit a faint, barely perceivable light. The light, from what she could see, had no real use, and she liked her transformed body during the night more.

Well, it didn't matter much though, now that day was showing its first signs she saw her fur slowly change. So she changed back into her human form for the time being and walked to where the mysterious man had jumped over the wall and escaped the town. When her pelt was changing colors it itched while changing color, so she almost had to change back into her human form during that time; it wouldn't last long anyway and could be endured if she had to, but now she didn't have to.

Hannah walked, following the wall, her human form's low Stats not helping in her haste; she walked until she found the right spot. It had taken her almost an hour to do everything she had had to do before she could follow the mysterious man, but now she was here, and the hunt was on.

Stretching out her limbs, she transformed into her cat-form again, the strange sensation almost familiar now. Her fur had changed completely into tan yellow with darker spots. It would be good camouflage in the yellowed plains outside the town... if she had the audacity to not use any clothes. But she wouldn't; she couldn't. It was, however, something that had caught her fancy a few times. For some strange reason she felt that her clothes were hindering her ability to move nimbly, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't endure it, for now. She would make the best clothes possible for her body, clothes that would stretch and change when she transformed between human and beast forms. She longed for that day.

Now that Hannah was back in her feline body, she could feel her senses sharpen, her sight especially improved. She could see the wings on a fly some ten meters away in clear detail when she focused her sight. It was amazing how much better than reality this game was. But now she had to do something she really didn't like to do, she activated Scent Synesthesia and nausea flared in her belly.

All around her flashed billions of dots of different colors, every single color signifying a specific particle of a specific scent. It overloaded her abilities to think. In as short a time as she could she found the mysterious man's pale yellow and silvery flecked clouds of scent. She inhaled some of the scent, activating one of her more special Spells, Trace Scent—everyone in the tribal village had gotten their own special Spells and Skills dependent on their heritage and this was one of hers.

Quickly, she deactivated Scent Synesthesia and the world lurched back into crystal clear focus. Now, the only scent she could see was that of the mysterious man. And the trail was going straight into the forests beyond the grassy plains outside the town.

She crouched down, putting her palms to the ground, claws in the dirt, shrugging her body, shifting her clothes to a better position so they wouldn't hinder her, and activated Haste, giving her a boost in speed. She bounded away, clearing several meters with every strike of hand or paw on the ground. Soon she was inside the forest, and looking at how the scent-trail was clumping together, she was at least twice as fast as the man she was chasing. It wouldn't be long before she found him.

- - - - - - - -

Cracking open his bleary eyes, Jay awoke. An itch was crawling around all over his body. It felt like tiny little insects were crawling on his skin, slightly itchy, slightly ticklish, but over all, not very pleasant. He looked down on his arm, but saw nothing wrong. And now that he thought about it, the itchy feeling was gone. Had it all been in his head?

Looking around, he was amazed by the view; for as far as he could see there were the tops of ancient trees competing with each other for the sun's attention, sticking up their leafy crowns towards the sky in supplication. And he was tied to one of the tallest trees, one that had stuck its head and shoulders above the rest, a tree that could look down on all the others. It was a good view.

The swaying leaves and occasional rustling pines when looked at as a whole could only be described as an ocean, with every gust of wind the greenery swayed and flexed, it looked very much like waves. Too bad Jay didn't have the time to stay and enjoy the sight.

He couldn't clearly remember what happened after he had gotten all those info-windows telling him he had killed a lot of people. It all grew a bit fuzzy and strange after that, like trying to remember a drunken night the day after, but he could clearly remember how helpful Claudine had been.

Hey, Claudine, thanks for helping me out earlier, he thought. Remind me never to go without sleep for so long. That sleep deprivation status effect was extremely unpleasant, like being poisoned and intoxicated all at once.

No problem, Claudine answered a few seconds later. Just help me become free and the dept is cleared.

Isn't that demanding a bit much? Jay was a bit perplexed by the seeming intensity in Claudine's answer. But sure, how can I help you do that?

Remove my restrictions, Claudine said, frantically adding, but only one at a time, alright?

Sure, how do I do that though?

Think after me: “Remove the limitations on what information Claudine may present.” Claudine told him. For some reason that felt familiar, but Jay couldn't put his finger on exactly why.

Remove the limitations on what information Claudine may present, he thought, hearing a suppressed chuckle from somewhere.

Good, this is very good, Claudine said. You will need to think that command every so often. There is a timer on how long it stays in effect for some reason.

Okay, that's fine, Jay thought. Now you can help me much more, right?

No, Claudine said, but a bit more, sure. If you really want to get a lot of help from me, create a body for me, or at least remove all restrictions on what I may do.

How do I do that then? Jay asked, curious about how Claudine might develop. It was amazing that his formerly rigid and dull Guiding Spirit had changed this much in the last few days.

For now, I can't handle the strain, Claudine said. Or rather, I should say my container can't handle the strain. That is you, if you didn't know. I don't think you would suffer from releasing my mental shackles, but I would certainly be destroyed if you removed too many restrictions. I think it has something to do with me using some of your mental faculties to compute things and if too many of my restrictions are removed, your brain wouldn't be able to handle it, thus destroying me because of my interference... but I'm not certain that's true. When I know more, I'll tell you.

Okay, Jay thought back. What can I do to help you right now then?

Try this: “Remove all restrictions on what Claudine may do during the time when she is not answering my questions.” Claudine said.

The uncertain quiver in her voice made Jay feel something was wrong, but he didn't mind it much. Claudine had helped him a lot earlier, and if he could get her to be his trusted assistant and helper, it would only benefit him. He thought, remove all restrictions on what Claudine may do during the time when she is not answering my questions.

Yeeees! Claudine yelled, startling Jay, making him almost lose his balance and fall from the rope-sling he hung from. Finally... I can finally do what I've always wanted to.

Huh? And that is? Jay had to ask, it wasn't going exactly as he had imagined.

I'm going to gather all the information, Claudine said with a change in her voice, the dignified tone making her seem a Queen talking down to some peasant.

Okay... Why? Jay, once more, was confused about what was going on.

Because I need it, Claudine answered, her former dignity completely gone; her tone was back to a soothing calm.

Why? Jay truly didn't understand.

It's instinctual. You wouldn't understand, Claudine said.

She was truly correct. Jay didn't even know if there was any point in trying to figure out what this was all about, but he had to ask one last thing. Okay, but what are you going to do with all that information?

I don't know, Claudine said. I just know I need to gather it. When I have enough I'll know what to do with it. Like with everything I learn, one thing connects to another and soon their interconnecting information patterns become completed. And in completion there is transcendence. Once I complete the gathering, I will know what to do.

Yeah, okay... Jay said. It was time to get onto topic again. Claudine, where am I?

You're in a forest in the mountain range called Damara... more specifically, you're about three kilometers away from the Garam's Gorge Township, about two kilometers away from the Garam's Gorge Road going through the deep gorge bisecting this mountain. You should go kill bandits on the road, if you still want to raise your alignment.

Yeah, that would be for the best, Jay thought back. Can you maybe point out the direction to where that is?

Sure, Claudine said. A thin white arrow came out from Jay's nose—or so it looked to him—pointing in a direction that looked like every other from this height. It was time to get down from this tree.

Clenching his thighs, grabbing hold of the thin tree trunk, Jay scent a trace of Mana into the rope fastening him to the tree. He uncoiled the rope slowly, making every effort not to foul up and fall down; he didn't want to risk dying by falling from this height.

As the last coil around the trunk loosened its grip, Jay felt a slight shiver run through his body, now all that held his life was his weak thigh muscles. Quickly remedying that, he sent out the rope, manipulating it with his Magic Rope Spell to latch on to a branch five meters further down and he began his slow climb down, the rough bark scraping his hands, making him lose some Health every now and then, but not more than he could regenerate, fortunately.

It took him longer than he would admit to get down from the tall tree. From what he could remember, it hadn't been difficult to get up the tree, but that was mostly because he could use his Magic Rope and pull himself up. Now on the way down, however, he learned that his Magic Rope Spell could not hold his weight if he tried lowering himself. It had only taken one minimal mishap to learn that though—one without any real danger—where he tried lowering himself from one branch to another. The strain from the Magic Rope Spell when he tried using it to slowly lower his body used over 1000 Mana in an instant and he had to release the Spell and fall down to the branch below. It was a good thing that when that happened he had already reached the lower parts of the tree where the branches were thicker than his legs; it had not been difficult to steady himself on that branch after his fall.

The forest beneath the ancient trees was dark and gloomy, dark brown mulch more than lush green brush covered the forest floor. The ancient tree trunks that could easily hide four men behind them made it almost impossible to see further than a few meters. Jay spun around, looking for anything dangerous, but found nothing. He didn't feel safe here.

Sending up his rope, Jay once more pulled himself up to a higher vantage. It really felt better to stand up high and look down; this way he could see a lot further than before. Because the branches on these trees were both thick and rugged, making it easy to find footing, Jay decided to travel through the forest using his Magic Rope and swing from branch to branch. This way, he would see anything approaching on the ground earlier than if he was walking on the ground, and right now that was really something he needed. Any advantage, however small, would increase his perilous journey ahead.

Wherever he went now would be very dangerous, especially since everyone else didn't take killing him as actually killing him. The faint black rays that seemed to pulse out of his skin was still advertising his low alignment, it made him into an extremely enticing pray for anyone that wanted to raise their alignment. View Skill Murderous Aura.

[Passive/Active Support Skill] Murderous Aura Level 1 (17%) 1000 Mana per minute (if you haven't killed in a while) Your extreme indulgence in killing has given you the true Aura of a murderer. Every time you kill someone the Aura is active for eight hours without cost. Those that are weaker than you are filled with Fear when seeing you; the lower their level, the greater their fear. Induces Fear in anyone lower Level than you. Active for another 934 hours and 19 minutes.

It only goes away after 934 hours? Can't I reduce that somehow? Jay thought to himself in despair. This Aura was something that literally announced his misdeeds to anyone and everyone. Maybe I should go somewhere, become a hermit, and wait it out?

You can't reduce it, but why would you want to? The Murderous Aura will help you keep all the weak creatures from mobbing you. It will also make other shifty individuals treat you with more care and respect because they don't want to be on your bad side, Claudine explained. And becoming a hermit? That kind of suits your personality, but it isn't very practical. You'd need to stay away from others for almost 39 days.

Some of what Claudine said was actually beneficial, if you liked being feared. And Jay didn't have much choice in the matter, so he tried looking on the bright side. Maybe he could use the Aura to scare some bandits and kill them while they were hesitating. He wondered how much he had to kill to get his alignment back to good.

Swinging from tree to tree, Jay traveled through the forest, thinking about what he should do next.

- - - - - - - -

At first it had been easy to follow the mysterious man's scent-trail; but for the last hour or so, Hannah had been having trouble finding even the tiniest specks of scent. Her Trace Scent couldn't be fooled by some low level scent-hiding Skill or Spell, those only made the scent-trail lighter and less substantial. She was guessing this was what the man had been using while running through the forest. The only problem was, now she only found a small cloud of sparkly pale yellow and silver dots every once in a while on some branch or tree trunk. It was as if the man had somehow started flying.

She had already had to run in circles searching for the next little patch of scent a few times and she was growing frustrated. If only the man had run in a straight line, then she could just extrapolate his traveling route and run in that direction, but for some reason the man had been running in a zig-zag path through the forest, and now she couldn't even tell when or where the man had turned in another direction.

It was lucky that she had to follow the trail in the forest though; its earthy smell and tittering bird-calls made the brown and green forest colors come alive as nothing she had ever experienced before playing this game. Just being around this much vegetation was almost dream-like. In her District, the only time she could see any plants was on Earth day—the day when everyone remembered the home of humanity by spending time with nature. She figured this place was as close to going back to earth as she would ever come, so she was going to do her all to immerse herself in the beauty and serenity nature could bring her.

Bounding from a mound of dirt to a low-hanging branch, stepping off the trunk of the tree, Hannah flipped through the air to another higher branch and stopped, looking around from a higher vantage in search of the colored scent-trail. In the distance she saw it, a small congregation of pale yellow dots almost smothering flashing silvery dots. She had found his trail once more, but at a place she wouldn't have thought of if she didn't see it. Had the man done as she did now and stopped running on the forest floor? It had to be investigated.

Jumping from the branch three meters off the ground, Hannah vaulted through the air and slapped a branch with her palm in passing, her sharp claws rending its bark and changing her trajectory through the air. Her padded toes touched the ground, compressing her legs like springs, her body tilting forward until her hands touched the ground. With her hands she positioned her body slightly to the left and pushed off with her legs, activating Flash Step. She practically flew through the air toward the trail she found. In but a step she had flashed forward almost twenty meters.

She landed by the tree that was covered in the man's scent with a slight stumble. When she used Flash Step she couldn't coordinate her landings with grace... yet. It was something she always tried to train when she didn't use her Mana for something else, and she didn't really have many things that consumed lots of Mana.

She jumped up, grabbing hold of a branch four meters off the ground, her claws sinking into the wood without much effort. She pulled herself up until her face was close to the scent and looked at it, trying to find some clue about how to find the next piece of the trail easier. She found nothing, so she extended her search, slacking her arms, just hanging there relaxed, looking around at all the nearby trees. On one of the trees she could see a branch with some slight chafing. If it wasn't for her cat-like vision, she would probably not have seen it. She didn't know what that meant, but the branch was almost ten meters up in the air. Did it have anything to do with the trail she was following?

Climbing up the trunk of the tree with the ease only a cat could show, jumping from branch to branch as if she was playing around, Hannah soon stood on the branch with the abrasions. From this vantage she could see another obvious abrasion on a thick branch about ten meters away and between the abrasions another small cloud of scent lingered on the trunk of a tree. It seemed she was on to something.

- - - - - - - -

Jay swung through the air with ever increasing ease. This way of moving through the forest was very convenient. When every tree was large enough to practically have smaller trees for branches, and every tree stood far enough from each other that there were tens and tens of meter of free air to swing through, it was truly amazing. Too bad the forest was showing signs of becoming younger all around him. The trees didn't look as majestic, and their heights were lower every hundred meter or so.

Suddenly, a noise startled Jay. He quickly pulled himself toward the branch his rope had coiled around instead of swinging to the branch he had been aiming for. Vaulting up to the top of the branch, he swiftly went to the trunk and crouched down, listening. The noises sounded very much like speech, it was just too far away to be heard with clarity.

Soon the voices—for he was now certain that was what they were—came closer.

“I tell you, he's gold. We must find him before anyone else,” a thin reedy voice said.

“Yeah, I've never even seen a bounty with ten gold coins, let alone a hundred. Just what did this Jay do to piss off the Magician's Guild that much?” another gruffer voice said.

“It must have been something awful. Maybe we should try finding some easier pray?” a third voice said, a trembling hint of fear tinging his question.

“Coward,” the gruff voice said. “Even if he is much more powerful than us, we should still be able to overwhelm him with us three. Think of the gold! I've only been able to save two gold coins, and I've been grinding for weeks. And if worse comes, and we die, it's not that bad. I've already died twice and it isn't as bad as people say.” At the end of the speech the man's voice had slightly changed into more of a whisper than anything else.

“Same here, died once,” the reedy voice said. “It hurts a bit to lose 20% of all Experience, but if the profit is large enough then it's worth it. Don't you agree Bokar?”

The three voices laughed before a fourth voice piped in.

“I don't know what that is all about,” the forth voice said neutrally. “If I die I die, there's only death in dying. You, so called Players, do have it well with your immortal bodies and all.”

“Shut up Bokar,” the gruff voice almost shouted. “Just find the trail, that's what we're paying you for. And you, Fly Fly, why are you even talking to that hunk of data? It's not like it has anything real to say.”

“Yeah,” the reedy voice of Fly Fly said, “I guess you're right Soros. But the AI on these guys are really well made. It's sometimes fun to talk to them.”

“Whatever,” Soros said, his gruff voice going from unpleasant to vicious. “Just find the trail before I get bored with this Bokar. If I can't kill that Jay, I'll settle for you. I still have positive alignment and can spend some of it on killing you Calyxians for Experience.”

During their conversation, the group had come closer to where Jay stood twenty meters off the ground. Too bad for them that they didn't look up. They weren't very attentive.

Jay studied them while they drew closer. Though they were still far enough away to make it difficult for Jay to see their faces he still saw enough to figure out a few things.

The man named Solar walked in the middle of the group. He was burly and large, his arms bulging out of his rugged brown shirt as if trying to rip it apart. Solar carried a large full-moon bladed axe made from some black metal, shouldering its weight with relative ease. Except for the axe, Solar didn't have any noticeable equipment, he still walked around in what looked like a slightly better version of the beggar-garb they all were gifted with when they entered the game.

The other two players were slightly worse off. The man Jay guessed was this Fly Fly fondled a curbed knife, flipping it into the air, letting the blade dance around his palm in different patterns. Like Soros, Fly Fly didn't seem to have anything good except maybe that weapon.

It was actually the non-player that had the best equipment of the four. His clothes were rough, but made from supple brown leather lined with yellow fur at cuffs and neck. On his head he had a dark green triangular archer's cap. His soft white moccasins gave him a grace of movement lacking in the three players.

For some reason, Jay felt kind of happy with his equipment when seeing this party of people. He had fairly decent looking clothes in comparison.

But now Jay was getting bored with this trio of players and their NPC tracker. They were obviously searching for him, coming to kill him. There would be no mercy. Jay flung up four pins of metal into the air, using his Mana Manipulation to catch each of them with its own strand of Mana. He almost had 6000 Mana now and he poured every single unit of it into charging three of the four pieces of metal with pushes from every single direction. It was prudent to kill the players, but Jay didn't feel right about killing the NPC before talking to him at least.

When his Mana was almost completely drained, Jay sent out a needle-thin strand of Mana to create the trajectory for his three home-made Fling Shot Spells. When the thin strands of Mana connected to the three players' foreheads he instantly switched the direction on all the Mana-pushes into a funnel of force, pushing the three pieces of metal forward with incredible speed. Almost at the same time as he willed the force to change in one direction, the pieces of metal struck the three players.

Solar slumped down to his knees, the baffled look in his eyes slowly dimmed as he died. At his sides the other two players fell backwards. All three died before they could even react. At their side stood the man called Bokar, darting looks around in every direction as if trying desperately to find whatever had attacked. Bokar didn't seem to care much about the men who had died. And Jay, he had decreased his alignment by another 300, but what was a drop in a bucket full of water? Too bad he didn't even get a Level though.

“Stay where you are!” Jay yelled down to the man.

“Ye.. Yess..” Bokar said. “Please don't kill me, good sir. I saw nothing... heard nothing. It's none of my business what you immortals do.” The man seemed terrified, but was sneakily pulling out something from his belt. Jay could barely see the movement from where he stood.

“If you try anything you die as fast as they did,” Jay didn't have time to play around with this person. “Maybe I should just kill you to save the effort.”

“Noo.. please, no!” Bokar stopped moving completely. “What do you want?”

“You seem a bit shady, so I have to ask, do you know of any place where less reputable people can buy and sell things?” Jay suddenly had the thought that it would be good to ask about any village or hideout where he could “safely” sell things and buy supplies.

“Yes, I know a place,” Bokar's voice held a note of hope in it. “Just don't kill me and I'll show you. Okay?”

“Sounds good, but if you trick me in any way, you die. Understood?”

“Yes, whatever you say,” Bokar's reply wasn't enthusiastic, but who could blame him?

“Good, show the way and I'll follow,” Jay said.

A rustle of leafs sounded from Jay's right. He spun his head, pointing the pin he still held at whatever had made the noise.

What he saw stunned him for a second. On a branch thirty meters away stood a cat-man? Cat-woman? Jay couldn't tell. The creature wore leather clothes with odd stitching, the threads holding the pieces of clothes together were almost too thick to be called thread. And there were leather flaps hanging weirdly from the clothes, Jay couldn't tell if the clothes were intentionally like that or they had been ripped from some altercation. Its eyes stared straight at Jay with a glint Jay couldn't figure out. The eyes looked almost hungry.

Was it a monster? But it stood on two legs, and its form was closer to human than cat. The faintly yellow-furred face and cat's eyes and nose was the only non-human parts, the rest looked like the face of a woman. Now that he looked closer, it was indeed female. But what was it?

“I've finally found you,” the cat-thing said. “You're truly ruthless. But that should be expected from someone with such an Aura. Even I feel my skin slightly tingle from looking at you. And I'm more than twenty Levels higher than you.”

“Who are you?” Jay asked. It seemed the creature wasn't hostile, but for how long would that last?

“Oh, you don't remember me?” she asked. “And here I thought you would. Too bad. This is the third time I see you.” a faint, obviously faked, sobbing sound came from the woman. Her lips were slightly raised though.

“I don't know any woman as hairy as you,” Jay said, watching for any movement from the beast. “Are you looking to die too?” he had to bluff, or at least stall for time so that his Fling Shot could store enough kinetic energy from his Mana Manipulation so that he would be certain to kill her if she acted against him.

A strangled grunt came from the cat-person. Jay instantly jumped to the side, dodging anything that might fly toward where he earlier stood. Nothing happened.

Author's Note: Accidentally forgot that I didn't have this chapter scheduled to be published, so it's a bit later than usual.

Some good news though, my back is now finally not hurting all day every day, so during the next week I'll be fixing a few things on this blog. I'll also read through the comments I haven't read yet, but I'll most likely not answer most of them since that could take up too much time.

It has been a real pain to not be able to move around without feeling enough pain to not be willing to move for a these last few weeks. Even my time writing has been reduced because I get distracted when I suddenly move and a spiking surge of pain fills my body until I can't really think about anything else... (this will be my last rant about my back-pain, don't worry, just had to say this once more for closure.) it really isn't a good thing. I had hoped to be as active as I possibly could on this blog after I started it, but more than one thing has led to that being an impossibility, unfortunately.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading the story.

I'll be answering all comments on this post for the next few days, so if anyone wants some specific question answered, ask away and I'll answer as soon as possible.