As I stood in front of a board that filled up a good half a wall in this massive room, I had no clue where to start. Papers filled the thing and there seemed to be some sort of organization being used, but I had no clue where to start looking. “Solo or with a group?” Came a gruff voice that I recognized.

  I turned to face the dwarven woman and answered with a simple “Solo.” At my word, her eyes appraised me. I had a feeling that she was looking beyond whatever she could physically see as she judged what I could and could not handle. Not that I cared. Not as long as she got me something to do. Something to kill.

  “I think that there is a perfect quest for you.” She spoke as she walked over to the farthest, and largest, grouping of papers on the board. “These are quests that are considered perpetually up. Their ingredients are always useful and easy to get.”

  So there were guaranteed repeatable quests. Quests that would yield some easy money and experience for any beginner, at least while in this town. Most games had some, though some limited how many times a single player could use it while others didn’t care. “If they are so easy to get then why don’t people constantly farm the quests?”

  “Farm?” Her brows crinkled a bit as she pulled two of the pages down. “Oh, you mean repeat the quests as many times as they can? Because neither is worth much. It is more of a ‘turn in the goods if you happen to grab them as you pass by’ kind of quest. But judging by how you look, I would guess you need something that you can kill without being in too much danger.” I took the proffered pages and looked them over.

  ‘Would you like to accept this quest?’

  ‘Would you like to accept this quest?’

  Thoroughly grossed out at the thought of feeding some blood to a plant that was going to be used in a potion, I had to force myself not to simply toss the papers back at her. She likely had a reason for picking these missions for me. “What is with the plant and blood?”

  She shrugged. “Bunnies are as easy to kill as they are plentiful. Since you are going to be in the area, might as well grab the leaves after the fight.” She made it sound as if someone going out to kill creatures to let off a bit of steam was normal. That shouldn’t be normal. Then again, why not? This was a game and nothing was being hurt. Plus, it would be a good opportunity for me to find out just how strong I was.

  Yeah, I couldn’t fool even myself with that excuse. I had felt the need to hurt someone before but my tricks and jokes usually were enough to quell the rage. This time, I didn’t think that would work. Something about this anger was different. Almost like it was alive. With a nod of thanks to Ginny, I accepted the two quests and passed back the pages.

  As I turned to leave she spoke up. “There should be a decent-sized warren a little ways to the southwest of the town.” While I was curious how she would know such a thing, I held up a hand in thanks as I made my way across the room.

  The doors at the front of the guild were wide open to allow the gentle, sun-kissed breeze to filter in. All of the stubborn snow and ice had finally melted away as the air warmed up. I had no clue what season it was, or even if this place had seasons as I knew them, but I felt like it was shifting.

  Huffing, cries of pain, and a few yelled words filled the air. In the cleared areas around the guild building, people trained. Some beat upon one another while others simply practiced this skill or that. As I passed, I found my eyes drawn to the various forms of combat. Wooden weapons of all types smashed against other weapons as an adult watched from a short distance away. Others fired various projectiles at targets dozens of feet away.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Given that this was a world built with access to magic, the arrows fired were in the minority. However, those that were used were usually fired with some sort of magic infused into them. Not that one could visually tell until they hit the target. I watched as an undiscript arrow struck a target only to have the target crumple around the arrow. The result looked like some sort of giant had grabbed the target and crushed it into a tiny ball no larger than my head.

  That was the last thing I saw before the crowded street of the market beyond swallowed me up. I didn’t fight the current. Simply going with the flow as it pulled me toward the gate. While many were alone, most had a teen in tow. Either their kid or some sort of apprentice given the medieval-like society that the game seemed based on.

  Of course, this did bring to mind my own job status, both in the game and out. This little adventure with the game had cost me a couple of days, and a hefty chunk of my savings, yet what did I have to show for it? Not much. Even if I managed to trade all of my gold for money, I wouldn’t have enough to cover a single month in the real world, let alone the cost of the pod.

  Not that I had seen any really good way to make money for someone my level. To do that I would have to take chances and level up in every way. But I had been trying that the entire time I had been playing the game and I was only level seven. On top of that, the city and area around it was likely a beginner area of some kind and yet I was weak as hell for even this place.

  I needed some sort of edge. Something that no one would expect. Something that would work on not just other people but creatures as well. Given how much I tended to rely on them in the real world, maybe a trick of some kind.

  The moment I thought that, my mana sent a small flare of fire to lick at my heart. It almost felt like it was agreeing. Only, that would mean that my mana was alive and that it was capable of conscious thought — or was I simply anthropomorphizing energy? Fuck it, who cared if it was alive or not. This was a fucking game.

  The crowd pushed me out of the gate before releasing me in a spray not unlike that of a high-pressure hose as it released its contents into the air around it. The notification about leaving the town appeared and vanished in an instant as I looked around to get my bearings. Many of the people leaving were following the road straight out of the city, though a few took the other path that led out and slightly to the north. The was also a road that hugged the outside of the wall as it made its way to the south. I looked to be the only one to take it.

  As soon as I got far enough from anyone who might be listening, I played madman. “What do you think we should do to get an edge?” I asked my mana. Nothing happened. Not that it should have. It was energy and that was it. I felt like an idiot for even contemplating any differently. It was up to me to come up with a solution to my problem.

  Maybe I could pour the mana along my Chisa Katana and use it to light the edge up with a fire or something. Then again, having such high temperatures near metal would soften it. So that would do more harm than good.

  Maybe I could constantly pump mana through my body. I would be strong and able to take a hit. Unfortunately I would also only last until my mana ran dry. Given how little mana I currently had, that would be fairly quick.

  Option after option ran through my head. All of them were good for one thing or another, but each caused more damage or limited my options more than if I didn’t use them. It also didn’t help that I only knew one rune and thus one spell. Fireball. No, I didn’t count body fortification as a spell given that it had no runes attached to it.

  It was simple and effective. With my current mana pool, I could fire eight, maybe nine, such spells before I was at risk of mana fatigue. Though, that spell wasn’t really something I could use in close-quarter combat. Not without blowing myself up. It was something I would have to open with or use to clear out large clusters of enemies.

  As I stepped off the path, I made my way down the first hill and to the southwest of the city as Ginny had recommended. Not seeing anyone or anything around to yell at me, I took the opportunity to fire off one of the fireballs. Why? Because how else would I know when and how I could use it?

  With my mind focused, I formed the rune on the surface of my hand. Doing so was much easier now that I knew how to go about it. I took my time to let it gather mana while I held an image of what I thought a fireball should look like. Without warning, the spell crumpled into itself. In its place a blue fire, so dim that I would have missed it if not for the light and heat it gave off, formed. That wouldn’t be an issue if it was anywhere except on the surface of my palm.

  The spell didn’t even finish compressing into the fire before it seemed to shudder and explode. With a small explosion of blood and smoke, the fireball went off. I stifled a scream as the pain brought me to my knees.

  It felt like my hand was shredded. Not that I knew if it was or wasn’t. I wasn’t willing to look and find out. I may not have been squeamish when it came to blood but it was different when it came to your own blood. Especially when coupled with the pain.

  With grit teeth, I shoved the pain to the back of my mind and focused on my mana. With as much speed as I could manage, I formed a thread of the stuff into a janky body fortification technique that was focused on my right arm. The moment the spell solidified a soothing heat traveled along my arm and to my hand.

  I don’t know how long I knelt there, but it was long enough that the wound was able to close. Long enough that my mana was coming close to the twenty percent limit. With an aggravated sigh, I let the spell fall apart as I looked over the results.

  In the middle of my hand sat an angry pink circle with radiating jagged lines. No burns. No cuts. No blood. Just some fresh and tender skin. Not that I was complaining. If that had happened in the real world I would have likely never regained full use of that hand. Hell, if I had had my hand closed, I might have lost the entire thing.

  Taking the win, I got up and resumed my journey to find these damn bunnies. While I walked, my mind wandered over how to cast the fucking spell. Every game and book made it sound so easy. Most of them made it so the main character was even capable of casting the spell on the first try. Well, I had cast it but it wasn’t a result I, or anyone, would ever want to repeat.

  I played back how the spell formed. I ran through the scene over and over. The rune seemed to crumble in on itself as the mana concentrated. The first signs of fire appeared in the middle where the compression was highest. It didn’t fail until it encountered something that disrupted the spell. Given that my hand was the only thing in the area, it was the likely culprit.

  Something rustled through the bushes just on top of the next hill. The sound caught my attention, especially coupled with the sudden lack of wind to generate said movement. Frozen, I waited to see if it would show itself or if I would have to go over and look for myself.

  A small pink nose poked above the grass. Its nostrils flared as it took in the scents of the area around it before poking its whole head up. I assumed it was a bunny given the two long ears and resemblance to one I had once seen on a school trip to cities one museum. It was one of the many creatures stuffed and hung up in a wing dedicated to recently extinct animals.

  Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I pulled mana to my hand. Taking my time to slowly form the spell as far from my hand as I could. The moment I finished forming the rune, I pushed mana into it and brought up the image of my ideal fireball. All the while, I prayed that the damned thing didn’t explode a second time.

  A few moments later, a small ball of light blue fire floated an inch from my hand. The color of the rippling flames reminded me of a blue citrine. Its glow was close to that of how many movies depicted ghosts.

  One would think that, given its proximity to my hand as well as my recent experience, I would be afraid of the ball of doom. But I wasn’t. Hell, the thing was only a half-inch in diameter. I doubted the damned thing could do much more damage than it had earlier. Still, heat poured off of it in a wave. Slowly baking my skin as it waited to be used. I pitched the thing underhand as I had so many other objects.

  Nothing happened. No explosion. No fire. Not even a small stream of light as it casually flew at my target. Maybe if I used mana to propel it, then it would travel faster than a snail. Which begged the question, how did one go about doing that? Maybe it was something to do with imagery. I had imagined a static ball of fire after all. So what if I imagined a ball flashing through the air?

  Without really giving it thought, I focused on the fluffy target as I imagined the ball flying at it. Before I could so much as blink, a thin streak of light crossed the distance. A microsecond later, a small explosion blasted the spot where the bunny had been. I say had been because I doubted it was there any longer. Not with the amount of red mist that was landing on the hill behind my target.

  So maybe an inch away from my hand was still a bit too close.