Age of Dragons Online

Chapter 3: Town

Author's Note

If there is something you have a question on, don't understand, or need clarification on, feel free to ask me.

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Chapter 3

Town

            Why was I sleeping in such a weird position?  And why am I not in my bed?  It’s so bright… Wait!  I need to get ready for school!  Oh yeah… school ended three days ago.  I don’t need to go to school… I can sleep more… but wait… am I outside?  What am I doing there?  Nadran’s groggy mind tried to remember what had happened, and when he did, he jumped up in a panic.  Game… Volzan… Trapped… fighting… dead…  As Nadran’s brain tried to chronologically sort all of his memories that were swirling around his head, he fully stood up and looked around.

            He was still in the same forest clearing where he had lost consciousness.  He didn’t see any monsters around, so he was able to partially relax.  His attention was immediately attracted to the victory screen hovering two feet away from him.  It read:

            CONGRATULATIONS FOR DEFEATING [FOREST GOBLIN MARAUDER] [Lv. 5] [ELITE]!  YOU HAVE RECEIVED 273 EXPIERIENCE, 3 SILVER 63 COPPER, AND [GOBLIN’S LIGHT CHAIN ARMOR].

                        [ACCEPT ALL]                                 [LEAVE ALL ITEMS]

            Amazed that he was actually able to defeat the goblin, Nadran tapped [ACCEPT ALL].  The item and money were transferred to his inventory, and the experience was added to his total experience bar, shown at the bottom of his vision.  The experience bar, already mostly full from defeating monsters for an hour straight, filled the rest of the way, then the bar emptied and filled a small amount from the experience from the goblin that carried over.

            A new screen then appeared.  It read:

            CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2!  YOUR SKILL POINTS HAVE BEEN AUTOMATICALLY ASSIGNED BASED ON YOUR SKILL SPECIALIZATION.

            Nadran tapped [OK], then looked at his health bar.  His health had increased somewhat.  He opened his character screen and found that his sword would now do more damage, and that he would take less damage from attacks.  There were a few other changes, but he didn’t look into them in detail because he noticed that he was very hungry.  Wait, I’m hungry in a virtual reality game?  This place isn’t even real, yet I still feel like I need to eat something to continue at peak performance.  Volzan really made everything as realistic as possible, didn’t he?  Yes, he certainly… and now I’m talking to myself.  I really need to get something to eat.

            Nadran started walking, then realized that he didn’t know which direction the nearest town was.  He then said softly to himself, “Well, I’ll just pick a direction at random.”  As he closed his eyes and started spinning in place, arm and pointer finger outstretched, he thought …And now I’m speaking out loud to myself.  I really need to get to that town.

            He suddenly stopped spinning, opened his eyes, and said “There!”  ...and found himself facing… the direction he had come from.  So much for that idea, he thought dejectedly.  So that leaves… it leaves… umm… trusting my instincts?  Unsure what to do, he closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and thought ...And now I think I look incredibly stupid, closing my eyes and concentrating, trying to magically divine the location of the nearest village.  So… um… where is the nearest village?  And now I sound really idiotic.  What am I even doing, asking myself a question I don’t know the answer to?  Or do I think that I can telepathically link to the world and magically know the location of the nearest village?  Either way, it’s not going to happen.