Now that the information was apparently burned into my memory, that was probably the last time I was going to open that particular section of information. Too long for too little. The skills were mostly identical to the ones in the game. There were few that were completely different, however. I could no longer summon an entire army of cavalry to trample my enemies, for example. Something I was completely alright with, to be honest.
I continued reading my 'status' information, and this time I succeeded in keeping things simple.
There were no longer game elements such as critical rate, critical damage or critical resistance. Maybe critical attacks didn't exist in this world. I'd miss my 100% critical rate and 540% critical damage, but it was no major loss. It would be difficult to implement that feat in the real world. I imagined a slap that would make people explode, and remembered the bandit that suffered a similar fate. I scowled at the memory.
I took off a ring and saw the number in parenthesis go down. I did the same with a plated boot and was relieved to see no changes. My suit of plate armor was a costume in the game, not actual equipment. A few experiments led me to the conclusion that they were treated as a natural piece of armor without any enchantment or enhancement. The game allowed you to improve gear via enhancing anvils, enchanting scrolls and npc's that ascended your equipment. The first had a chance to fail, the second was completely randomized and the third was very expensive.
After undressing and dressing, I reached the conclusion that my leather undergarments were what boosted my status so much, but were quite fragile compared to the metallic plates of armor. If I were to believe the flavor text of all items were turned into reality in this world, my armor was forged in a star.
[Starforged Eternium Plate Boot (Legendary)]
(Durability SSS+)(Weightless Wear)
That's some bullshit. If that's true on every case, my spear was forged with the claw of a Demon God. My thoughts sent a shiver down my spine.
If that turned to be factual, I could imagine very little having a chance against it. I felt drops of figurative sweat go down my face.
That's no bueno. Let's see. I summoned my spear out.
The thing materialized on my lap. I used the magical eye of absolute truth, or whatever its name was, to appraise the weapon. A few lines were missing, including the flavor text that referred to the Demon God.
[+100 Alma Pike (Mythical) {Ascension Lvl 10}]
(SSS+ Sharpness)(Durability SS+)
-Sharpness + 100% ({Lvl 10 Emerald}x10)
-Sharpness and durability + 45% (Enchantment)
-STR + 250
-CON + 200
-DEX + 195
-Infects wounds, cursing enemies
-Cursed enemies have their reflexes impaired
-Cursed enemies' nervous system is crippled, reducing their offensive capabilities
-STR + 250 (Transmutation)
-CON + 250 (Transmutation)
-DEX + 250 (Transmutation)
Changed quite a lot, huh? I sighed. It would've been way too much if the spear was actually forged with parts of beings beyond mortal understanding.
The rest of my general information was pretty close to that of the game, but some values were way lower. My character had well over 200k health and a good 20k mana. While the damage numbers were obscene, it made sense when fighting hordes of enemies coming at you in waves.
A world where life is precious cannot be held to the same standard of a videogame.
Nerfs may be necessary. I concluded. True, the basic status are inflated to Pluto and back, but nothing to do there. There's no screen showing me my average damage or armor values.
Besides. I eyed the horses around me. I need a mount. I rode a fucking penguin in the game and it's nowhere to be seen. Horses, though? I doubt a horse can go fast enough or be strong enough. Are horses used like war mounts in this world? Would that be animal abuse? Maybe. I could keep one to move around. I'd need a stronger beast or monster to fight, though. I don't even know how to take care of a horse, let alone a fantasy beast. I hope I can find a stable or something in this River-whatever town we're going to.
I appraised the horses once again. Nothing interesting. Most were level 3 or 4, two were level 5. Frustrated that my penguin was not even in my inventory, nor any of the mount eggs from the game at that, I changed my focus to try and find anything to kill time. Fortunately enough, I found books. Those quest tomes from the game turned into full books in this world. Hooray for fantasy worlds!
Reading a series of journals belonging to an archaeologist from the later chapters of the game, I killed time while driving the cart. Lapia's snoring and the clip clop of the horses kept the early night from being mostly silent, though I could hear distant owls and wolves from time to time interrupting the incessant noise from insects and small critters.
I had to take a lamp from my inventory when the night got dark enough that the horses stopped advancing, guiding them to the side of the road. Sitting on a tree root that had grown into the road, I faced the cart and horses. Having spent some mana, or E'er, to make the contraption work, I relaxed and continued my reading while eating dumplings and drinking some juice I had.
As someone who played the game on various characters, and seeing as all my character's inventories were with me, I had the complete collection of books the game had to offer. However, as many books as I had, I didn't have the time to read them all in one night. I barely read four journal volumes when dawn broke and Lapia woke up.
With a startle, she shot up, summoning a fireball and looking around her. When her eyes met mine, realization struck her and she relaxed.
"You okay?" I asked while standing up, putting the lamp back into my inventory. I walked to the cart and, as she didn't reply, leaned over the side and put a dumpling and a bottle of juice next to her.
As I did so, I noticed a sack full of grain. Assuming it was the horses' feed, I took it and approached the group of animals. I opened it and they all rushed me to have a piece.
As the first few ate in turns, I heard Lapia sighing loudly and rustling around. A few minutes later she walked to where I was feeding the horses with a sack of her own and helped me feed them, not before returning the bottle. I smiled at her and resumed the task.
"Good morning." she said while yawning. Her voice was a little hoarse due to having just woken up minutes ago.
"You snore like a storm." I said as a cheeky horse tried to take the sack from me, failing to do so due to my superior strength.
That managed to crack a smile from the elf and she visibly relaxed, chuckling to herself.
"Surprisingly enough, horses sleep very little." I said as the last horse ate its breakfast.
"Yet they eat as much as a whole village." she stared at the empty sack in her hands.
"They must've been on the road for a while. Four days since your incident, plus however long they prowled the roads before that. No surprise they're so hungry." I caressed a horse's face as it tried to take the sack from me, a few grains were left inside.
She nodded and walked to the cart. I went over to the river and quickly undressed, jumping in the water. It was positively refreshing. Although the day was comfortably warm, it wasn't hot enough to the point where I'd sweat under the sun.
"Hey Lapia!" I called from the water. "What season are we on?"
"It's the middle of spring. The rainy season is coming close." she said as she approached the edge of the water, where she just stared at me.
Her green eyes were jumping from me to the road. I could see her hands shaking a little while grabbing her improvised clothes. Standing up from my floating position, I kept my distance from her.
"They're dead." I said. Her eyes snapped to meet mine. "They can't hurt you anymore. You can relax and take a bath. If you want, I'll watch over the road." I offered a hand to her.
She took a deep, trembling breath. Her eyes darted to my lower half and she visibly flinched and gasped.
"Yes, I have a penis." I looked down to my new partner. "However, I am a female. I understand what you're going through. Most people would, actually, regardless of gender." I lowered my hand. "You just had bad luck. Nothing will come from looking away from reality. You have the power to move forward." I turned around.
"B-but…" she stammered.
"Make your choice, Lapia." I relaxed and allowed myself to float again.
A few minutes went by and I heard the splash of water, following by sobs and muffled cries. I smiled to myself. Crying is healthy. Though what I said could be called insensitive, reality is reality after all. The cries then turned into hiccups and finally laughter. Suddenly I heard an explosion and Lapia's laughter growing in volume.
I turned to see the elf wearing a manic smile flinging fireballs into the water. Her hair was damp and her breathing ragged as she swung her arms, producing fireballs the size of an adult head while water rained on us.
The display of unrestrained emotions went on for a while until she fell to her knees sweating profusely and trembling slightly. Her laughter, however, didn't stop.
"Now what?" she asked after calming down.
"Dunno." I replied honestly. "That's nobody's business but yours." I stood up, walked over to her and offered a hand.
She took it and as I pulled her up, she went stiff as our bodies touched. Her skin was coarse. At least compared to my own. Now that we were this close, I noticed her fingernails were long and sharp, almost claw-like. Her lips were thin, hiding unnaturally sharp teeth behind them. Aside from those details, she didn't look that different from an anorexic human.
"Wanna go?" I looked at her eyes as I asked.
"Yeah, sure." she blinked a few times and nodded, her damp chestnut hair stuck to her neck and face.
Must have a lot to think about. I sighed as I used a towel from my inventory to dry myself.
"This is pretty high quality. Was this in your storage?" she asked as she dried herself with another towel I lent her.
"Yeah, pretty neat, huh?" As we dressed up, I heard a distant whistle.
Lapia froze for a second, then started wearing her clothes as fast as possible. I tried doing the same, but the nature of my outfit was more complicated. As I finished wearing my leather garments, however, she whistled back two times to whatever it was.
While I was still focused on finishing, the sound of cart wheels reached my ears. I looked down the road in the direction we were going and saw a coach followed by various carts quite a distance from us.
"What was that?" I asked Lapia as I tightened a belt around my waist, fitting my armored pants in place.
"A caravan. When they spot someone in the rivers or lakes, they whistle to make their presences known so as to not intrude on nude people. It's a courtesy of the road adopted by mostly everyone. They then wait for a response, after which they resume advancing." she talked as she rummaged through the bags and sacks on the back of 'our' cart.
"Huh. Pretty civilized." I nodded in approval.
"Avoids conflict, really." She sighed. "Imagine a powerful individual is walked into while naked and doesn't like it. Some heads might roll."
"Does everyone use the river to bathe?" I couldn't help but ask.
"While traveling, yes. It's allowed by law. You shouldn't litter, though." she explained.
The caravan was getting closer.
"Makes sense." I said as I continued equipping my whole ensemble. "This shit takes way too long. Wish it would just materialize around me from my inventory." I grumbled as I fumbled with the belts and clasps.
"You can, though?" she showed me her hand, where a ring appeared and disappeared on her index finger. "Takes a lot of practice. You should try it when we get to the city."
"That..." I gaped at her. "Looks awesome."
She smiled and removed a bag from the cart, which she put down next to her feet.
"Not everyone has a personal storage, though. I am learned in E'er and spent time developing my own pocket space." she leaned back on the cart. "Most people use an enchanted item that holds a similar effect of a storage allowing them to store and retrieve items. Of course, you were born with one holding massive space. E'er just loves Halves." she chuckled. "Then again, maybe that's the norm when one reaches such power."
"Wouldn't that make more sense?" I said as I finished dressing. "Maybe at a set milestone there is a prompt or something that would make developing it that much easier. At two hundred or five hundred total."
She shrugged at that. "Maybe. That wouldn't explain yours, though."
"You're under the assumption that it has to. I'm made of the thing you strive to understand and control. I could work under different logistics. For whatever I know, you're the one that's different." I looked up at her. "It's a matter of perspective, is it not?"
Her brows furrowed and a scowl formed on her face.
"Not really. Sure, there are distinctions the more powerful one grows, but the Law of E'er is constant. Halves are the most influenced by E'er and at the same time are the ones that most influence it, but the only difference between an extremely powerful individual and a Halve is their affinity with it." she looked up.
I just got schooled. I smiled.
The caravan was reaching us.
At the front was a coach driven by a bald old man with no outstanding features. The coach itself was of wood and had windows on its sides, there were black drapes hiding its insides. It came to a stop before us. The two horses pulling it were taller and more muscular than the ones we had gathered.
The driver looked at Lapia and frowned. He then turned and tapped on the roof of the coach.
"What is it?" came a deep voice from the coach.
"Lady Lapia is here, and she doesn't look good."
Rustling was heard from the coach and soon the door facing us opened.
A well dressed man came out. He had deep black hair and a stunning mustache. His clothes were mostly silk and high quality leather. His eyes were clear and brownish, which squinted when they met Lapia.
"Lapia!? What happened?" he approached her with raised eyebrows, folding his arms behind his back.
His eyes flashed between surprise at seeing her, shock at hearing her words, and horror at witnessing the malnourished state of her body. Though Lapia had no wounds on her, her thin complexion said more than was necessary.
"Lord Punten." she bowed slightly. "My cart was ambushed by bandits and my companions killed. I could not deliver the missive to Ratunke as asked."
He sighed deeply.
"I am sorry to hear this. You may take a paid leave for a month to recuperate." he then turned to me.
His eyes opened like saucers with surprise. Then understanding dawned him and his face relaxed.
"May I know the name of Your Excellency?" he said as he took a weird posture as if wanting to bow, but not wanting to send the wrong message. He decided to nod appreciatively in my direction.
Your what? Do I look like royalty to you? Don Ramon looking ass...
"Natasha Novak." I said. "I met Lapia here when she was being held captive by the aforementioned bandits. They attacked before anything was really said and it ended in a gorefest." I shook my head at the memory, and my hands trembled slightly with a feeling I was not comfortable with.
"I see." he said as he closed his eyes for a moment. "I appreciate the aid you provided to my associate." he then searched his coat and retrieved an envelope. He opened it and a quill appeared in his other hand, with which he began writing something. He closed the envelope and handed it to Lapia. "Bring this to Julis." he tried to smile but failed several times.
"I… There's no need. Natasha here has already healed my wounds, I only need to rest and eat healthy for a few weeks." she replied in a rush, refusing to take the letter.
At her words, the coach driver, a few guards and Lord Punten turned their heads in my direction.
"Don't ask." I said, crossing my arms.