CHAPTER ONE

  Auron sat in front of his computer screen, like so many nights before this one. He smashed on his keys like a crazy person.

  He was at the end boss.

  “Almost there,” he said while he bit his lip in concentration.

  The boss bar was already only on 1 percent as Auron's character got hit.

  “Shit!” He yelped but his character barely survived and the boss finally fell.

  “Yes, holy that was close!” He stood up and swung his arms up in victory.

  As he got back to his screen he received rewards for the fight and after the game credits, he skipped, his character was back in the kingdom of Verta. His victorious smile faded as he pressed escape to return to the menu.

  “Well only this one is left now,” he told himself while picking the next and last character to play. The “battlemage” is a character that's able to fight with weapons and magic, which sounded pretty cool to him. “Not as cool as the lich though,” he said before pressing select.

  ‘WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE THIS EXPERIENCE SPECIAL?’

  a pop-up read on the screen.

  “I’ve never seen this before… Ah might as well!”

  He pressed yes.

  The light from the screen was suddenly like staring in the sun and he closed his eyes instinctively. “What the…!” The light engulfed him and he felt like he was burned alive but then darkness overcame him.

  ---

  Auron's eyes opened and closed multiple times adjusting to the light as he came to again. His vision was blurred and he felt a headache worse than any he had ever had.

  “Ahh.. what happened?” He groaned while rubbing his forehead.

  He then looked around and found himself in a… “a forest?!” He realised and got up abruptly only for it only to considerably worsen his headache.

  He leaned against a tree to keep him from falling over. "What's going on?” He asked himself and got another look around. To see trees and vegetation all around him.

  He then took a look at himself… or his attire. He wore a leather armor that covered his torso, of which parts were out of metal, like the shoulders and elbows. Similarly, he had leather gloves that covered his hand up to the fingers. His pants followed the trend as did his shoes.

  With a startle he noticed what hung from the belt on his left hip. “A sword…,” he goged at the shining metallic grip and as he unsheathed it out the leather sheath with weird, nostalgic familiarity. “A real sword,” He said in awe of the entirely unused blade.

  Then it finally hit him: “The Battlemage!” He yelled. “This is the exact equipment of the battlemage in AUR.”

  AUR was the RPG he was playing just minutes ago.

  And now he found himself as the character? He wondered…

  "Inventory!" He said. Nothing happened.

  “Stats!”

  …

  Something happened in Auron's mind, he knew his stats.

  Like it was in his mind the instance he said it.

  “Vitality, Strength, Intelligence, Agility and Perception. He knew all the stats well before.

  It must be the special stat for battlemage,” he thought. “But wouldn't he have heard of that before. But…”

  “For now I have to figure out where I am exactly.”

  He looked around again and came to the conclusion that he had no Idea.

  “Dammit!”

  Then he checked his pouch, which hung from his belt.

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  The feeling was similar to when he said stats and suddenly knew them. He knew what was in this bag automatically.

  However this made his headache stronger again.

  Bread, water, carrots, a compass and a certificate for the Kingdom?

  “But where is the damn map?” He murmured in frustration, he has to be missing something.

  “Map!”

  …

  Nothing.

  “World!”

  …

  Nothing.

  "Shit!" With each frustrated attempt he grew angrier but he was out of ideas what to yell next. So he just stayed silent.

  ---

  If the game went normally, he'd start in a kingdom by his choosing and get summoned as a hero by the ruling houses or royal families.

  But he was in a forest.

  After calming down a little he startet to think aloud.

  “If I assume I am actually in AUR, the game the most forest on the map would be… south from Vetra, so the chance I'm in that area is pretty high, which means I should head… north to come across some people.”

  He mentally summoned his compass, which felt weirdly natural, and with a blue glim it appeared in his right hand.

  “...North…,” He turned till the compass pointed in the wished direction and he started walking.

  ---

  After he walked by the first tree he remembered something he used to do in forest to not get lost. He unsheathed a small pointy dagger from his belt next to his sword.

  Then he made a scratch on the tree.

  He felt pretty smart.

  Then he walked.

  And walked.

  For hours.

  …

  Where the fuck am I? he thought.

  Calm down, he told himself.

  I have to be logical about this.

  But no matter how hard he tried he could not remain calm.

  “What the hell! I was transported as a game character to some f-forest! What if this isn't the game world and I'm going to die in a few days because of the cold or something! F-forget that! I don't even have food or water besides one bottle and a dry bread!”

  After he screamed on the top of his lungs like that, he was out of breath and tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.

  He didn't know what to do.

  But walking was certainly better than standing still, so he continued his march.

  After he let his anger out like that he found determination, to accomplish one task:

  Stay alive.

  ---

  Meanwhile Aurons transfer in this new, unknown world a girl and a boy were out in a forest on a mission:

  Harvest herbs for the village.

  This was no task to be looked down on.

  The pair was on this secret mission only for a short ten minutes or so after they heard a frantic scream in the distance.

  “W-what was that?” The small girl asked while shaking.

  “I-i don't know, m-maybe we are just hearing stuff… yeah.” The brave boy replied and they gave each other courage to continue without giving up.

  After a few more minutes passed however.

  A tiny rustle came from a bush nearby.

  The boy, who was only a few meters away from the noise, froze.

  A graoul followed shortly after, which made the boy snap out of his trance and frantically scramble away from the sound.

  “W-whats the matter Leo?”

  The girl asked, approaching the boy, Leo.

  “T-theres something there in… in the t-the bush.”

  He answered, pointing a shaking finger at where the sound came from.

  “S-stop being silly there's is nothi—”

  Her voice got interrupted by a pig-like creature practically flying out the bushes while roaring and another alike looking one jumping behind.

  The kids screamed out in a panic and ran, or a more appropriate word would be, scrambled away from the monstrosities before them.

  Luckily however the two monsters only shortly spared them a glance before continuing the fight between them.

  The terrified kids just goucked at their battle, mouths wide agape.

  They looked like wild boars on steroids and black horns. They're mouths had to be at least 2 times the size too of course.

  They snapped at each other wildly, saliva dripping from their huge teeth through the air.

  “W-we have to r-run.” Leo said, pulling at the girl to get out of there.

  Then, the focus of the two rivals changed, like a predator's instincts overruling the intern fight between them.

  The kids noticed too and they ran, but in their panic deeper in the forest rather than toward their nearby village.

  ---

  Auron was in a jog because he heard screams toward north.

  Hopeful but scared he kept up a good pace with relative ease.

  Noticing this, he sped up even more to push him a little but didn't get far as he saw two frightened kids heading straight toward him.

  Looks like they're running from something, he thought and slowed down a little.

  “Help, please help us!” They yelled and as Auron heard how scared they were he dashed towards them.

  ---

  The way through the forest Auron already tested what he was capable of.

  Well only against a tree but he had some idea of what he could do.

  In AUR skills worked simple:

  Press the button and it activated, you had to occasionally select an area or even press a few buttons in a rhythm for particularly strong attacks.

  There is also proficiency in most skills which increases by repeated use or expensive scrolls.

  Auron stood in front of his current opponent:

  A tree.

  He unsheathed his sword and felt what he was capable of, and he had a name for it.

  Sword Slash.

  This wasn't as simple as pressing a button though.

  He was capable of this act as he was capable of altering his movements.

  For example to change his timing on the slash or the broadness of what he would hit.

  As he practiced on the tree his sword cut a little chunk of wood off but after altering his footwork the cut deepened significantly.

  He increased the cut over and over till:

  “It's stuck.” He said, his hand still on the grip of his now embedded sword. The impact shook through his arms and hurt but it was okay.

  ---

  Now he had to face two real, moving opponents. He was weirdly at ease though.

  Maybe a passive effect of every class he guessed.

  The kids, a boy and a girl, not older than 10 or so hid behind him for protection.

  He let out a breath and calmed his breathing, he had to stay calm.

  He unsheathed his sword and got in position, while trying to keep an eye on both monsters.

  Okay, one after another.

  That one looks like it's wounded, that's first.

  He focused on the pig in the back as it limped a little.

  He couldn't reach it because of the one in front though, so he backed away a little as they approached.

  “Get back kids!” He said, gesturing for them to get back a little.

  As they did the closer pig lunched forward, opening its gape.

  Time seemed slower than normal as the pig got closer to Auron.

  A little.

  A bit more.

  Now!

  With a battle cry he executed the slash, and it hit where he aimed.

  Right in the mouth of the pig.

  Blood flew through the air as the lower jaw separated from the upper and the pig couldn't bite anymore.

  “Got you!” He yelled as he struck down at the still confused pig and hit right on the head. Blood sprayed again and the other pig backed away slightly after seeing the one sided battle.

  Auron had other plans for it however.

  He ran toward it and swung, but it dodged.

  After realising his sword had struck only air and dirt he was greeted by a claw being swung at his leg.

  As the tissue of his pants tore and blood dropped the pain cane shortly after.

  “Ghrr” Auron moaned through gritted teeth as he tried ignoring the pain but found himself off balance.

  However another swung at his other side snapped him out of it and he brought his sword up to block.

  A screech resided from claw against metal but he pushed the monster back with all he had.

  The difference in raw strength was clear however, as Auron found himself being pushed back.

  Leo and the girl had watched all this happening in fear but as they saw Auron struggling, the boy hesitantly approached and threw a rock at the monster's Eye.

  The opening hadn't gone unnoticed to Auron and he kicked the monster in the chest before dropping his sword, unsheathing his dagger and throwing it to hit in the neck.

  Only gurgles and groans was all the pig gave off as Auron picked up his sword and finished it.