Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Beginner's area (I)

The rumble coming from behind made him turn, shocking him at the finding of the cave collapsing and being sealed forever. The first thing he thought about was his luck, since he had just left before it happened, although he soon doubted. That impossible place to exist made him suspect that, somehow, it had waited for him to get out and then it had closed the cave forever. However, he didn't think much about it, because there was little he could do.

He went down the path until he reached the plain, which he crossed unceremoniously towards his destination, the center of that ruined square. Luckily, in that isolated place, there were no insects that could make even worse the experience of crossing a vegetation taller than his waist and which was getting inside his tunic. It was annoying, but he didn't stop until he reached the square.

He stood for a few minutes, turning around himself and looking in all directions, on a piece of the floor where the tiles were still in place. He contemplated the desolate landscape, as there was nothing to see where, in the past, trainers let newbies to choose a profession or change it.

The dummies to test skills and train up to level 2, which in the past stood on the freshly cut grass, were now hidden in the vegetation. And there were no signs of the novice players, who he recalled running around, attacking the dummies or talking to the NPCS or between them. Apparently, no one had set foot in that place in many years.

He looked in the distance, at an area of the dome that was darker and flush with the ground, and that he recalled as the exit from the beginner's area. He swallowed. It meant to cross a portal he could not return to. It meant to confront whatever was waiting for him out there. He wondered if it looked like the game he remembered or if it was as abandoned as the place he was. If there were more players who had returned. If he would find Melia.

He wondered how he could survive outside if he could not even get a profession, if he didn't have any weapon or armor, if he didn't even know what his stats or skills were, if those concepts were still valid. And, thinking about it, the schematic image of himself became clear in his mind, along with his status data, showing him that his equipment consisted only of a tunic and sandals without any bonus. Perplexed, he found information that was familiar to him, but somehow different from his memories.

To begin with, his profession was battle mage, the one he had been in the game, a profession oriented to melee and that mixes the use of magic and weapons. It isn't as strong as the warriors, nor its magic has the range and power of the wizards, but the combination between magic and physical abilities is fearsome if you know how to use it. It also has disadvantages, such as the low affinity with long distance attacks or the lack of offensive power against a lot of enemies (AoE).

Disappointed, he discovered that his level was 1, the lowest, although next to it and in parentheses there was a 100 in gray. He didn't remember about the gray thing in the game, and he wondered what it was doing there. Something similar was with its stats, such as strength, defense, mana, agility, critics... Their values were the initials, or so he thought, because he didn't remember them. And, next to them, in parentheses and in gray, were the values that he remembered having at level 100.

And then there were skills and spells. Surprisingly for someone of level 1, they were a lot, all that he had back in the game, including those that must be obtained by special missions or buying them. But most were in gray.

"Does it mean I can not use them yet?", he wondered.

He decided to do a test using Basic Healing, since the fire spell seemed dangerous. And when he began to wonder how to use it, the answer appeared clearly in his mind, understanding that he only needed to think about it. After all, his spells didn't require the long invocations of the most powerful ones, so they could be used perfectly during the heat of battle.

A soft white light enveloped him for a moment as he felt its healing power, which, however, had no effect by having nothing to cure. But the feeling had been unmistakable and his mana had decreased. A detail that caught his attention was that the compatibility bar with the spell grew slightly, approaching a bit to level 4 completion. It was a spell that he hadn't used much, because he had soon been replaced by those of higher levels, so it had never reached the maximum level, 10 for the compatible ones and 5 for the rest.

The other spell that was not in gray also felt like he could fire it easily, but not so those who were. He could not feel how to use them. «Maybe if I raise my level?»

Once verified that he could fire spells, and before trying the most dangerous one, he wanted to test his skills, which use stamina instead of mana. However, he couldn't, since there were only a few of them which he felt like he could, and they were linked to weapons that he didn't have.

Thinking about the weapons made himself wonder if, somehow, he could recover his inventory from the game, And immediately he felt a space around him, in which he recognized all the material he had kept long ago. It was there, within reach of his thought.

He chose a spear and a gauntlet, which appeared in his hands as he had wished. However, he found difficult to handle that spear or wear that gauntlet, they seemed to resist him, they were heavy and uncomfortable. He wondered if it was due to they being higher level than him, which was worrisome. After all, he had no low-level equipment, except for some loose weapon or armor that he liked, but not as low as his current level. In the game, he had sold or recycled them, since they were unnecessary and occupied a space he needed, something that he now regretted. If he had known, he would have bought all the inventory expansions and kept all low level stuff.

At least, he could take his food and drink even being high level. He could feel how their bonuses were there but out of reach. He had enough quantity and variety, so he would not die of hunger. However, without weapons he would have serious problems after leaving. And he didn't expect that reviving was something he could trust, and more so when the pain was real. "Damn tile!"

"Mmm ... Maybe ..."

And a soft glow enveloped him again, relieving the pain of his toe.