I woke up to a throbbing pain in my head. I rubbed my forehead trying to dull the pain.

"Was logging in always this painful?"

I wondered whether or not this was a glitch as I tried to get my bearings. I could hear voices all around me but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

As the pain in my head cleared and I regained my senses, I took a look around. I seemed to be by a fountain in the middle of a town square.

That makes sense. Every town square is a spawn point.

Looking around me I quickly realized this was not a town I had ever seen. What's more, the townsfolk were surrounding me, giving me a wide variety of looks. As I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, an old man came out of the crowd and spoke to me.

"Are you okay missie? You've been lying there for a while now."

For a while? A login should be almost instantaneous. It must be a glitch. I'll message the devs about it once I log out. For now I should probably get out of this crowd.

"I'm sorry if I bothered you. I'm fine. I sat down here to rest last night and must have fallen asleep."

The old man gave me a look as though he wasn't very convinced, but I simply started walking away, ignoring the whispers behind me. I only had a few hours before dinnertime and I wanted to make them count.

==================

When I got to a quieter part of town, I pulled up the menu to go on the forums and see if anyone else was experiencing this glitchy login. As I waved my hand and the menu popped into sight, I noticed a number of things missing from my menu.

Including the all important logout button.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

The only things available on my menu were my status, and settings. The forums, news, messages, everything else was gone.

And I say again, that includes the logout button.

I sighed and checked my status. A glitch this major is bound to be noticed soon enough. Might as well spend my time grinding. Then noticed a few more things were missing. Specifically, a few digits.

"Why the hell am I level one!?"

That's it. This has officially gone too far. I spent the better part of TWO YEARS getting as far as I did. And now I'm back to level one? ONE!? If this isn't fixed I'm suing those devs for all they're worth!

Sigh. This is a disaster.

I decided to take a proper look at my stats now, seeing as I've lost 897 levels. I pulled up the status screen and, it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought.

------------------------------------------------------
<Status>
Name: Aer
Race: Human
Class: Warrior (Engineer, Cook, Scribe)
Level: 1
Stat Points: 0
Hp: 100/100 (2)
Mp: 30/30 (5)
Sp: 100/120 (50)
Str: 15
Int: 3
Con: 12
Wis: 5
Dex: 8
Spd: 8
Luk: 12

Titles: 
[World Traveler] [Inventor] [Masterchef] [Windscribe] [Player lv 1]

Skill Points: 0

Unique Skills: 
[Appraisal lv 1] [Otherworld Language]

Combat Skills: 
[Bash lv 1] [Heavy Slice lv 1] [Charge lv 1]

Life Skills: 
[Cooking lv 1] [Crafting lv 1] [Calligraphy lv 1] [Horse Riding lv 1] [Negotiation: lv1]
---------------------------------------------------

I might be wrong, seeing as I haven't been low level in a long time, but these stats seem like standard for just starting an rpg. My combat skills tanked, but the rest of my skills are still here for the most part. Albeit at level 1. There are a few strange things though. Most notably the [World Traveler] title. I don't recall having a title like that when I was playing. Curious, I checked the description.

-------------------------------------------------------
<World Traveler>

A title for one who has traveled from another world. The soul comes into contact with great amount of mana during the process, granting it enhanced capabilities.

[Stat Growth + 1]
[Skill Point Gain +2] 
[Exp Acquisition +50%]
[Luk -10%]
-------------------------------------------------------

....seriously? Isn't this a bit unbalanced?

For a bit of context, stat growth in MSO is a bit like Fire Emblem, where stats are randomly upped by 1 when you level up. Stuff like HP, MP and the like are upped by 10 though. The chance is weighted based on your class, so it's not exactly 50/50. The main difference from fire emblem however, is that 10 stat points are given to distribute however you like. You also receive 3 skill points when you level up as well.

FYI, stat growth is the term for the random portion, meaning either my status grows by 2 each time, or everything is upped by 1 with a chance of being upped by two. Either way, it's a tremendous gain past the first few levels.

I dunno why I got this title, but I hope I get to keep it!

Rather excited to test the effects of my new title, I figured the rest of the changes could wait and closed the menu. Then I started searching for the town's exit.

As I walked along the busy streets, I took a look around at the town. Seemed to be a standard fantasy town, with medieval style buildings and clothes. Though, I did notice that I didn't see anything but humans walking around.

So it's a human town, is it?

There were also a number of people wearing light armor, equipped with various weapons. There were even a few wearing robes and carrying staffs with them. None of them had player tags though.

If they aren't players, then there's probably a guild in this town. I'll have to find it later.

As I continued to stroll around the town a pair of kids were running down the street, probably playing tag. The one in front was looking behind him yelling, "Can't catch me!" Thus, he did not see that he was about to run into someone. Me.

As I raised my arms and braced myself for the impact, suddenly I found myself feeling weightless, looking up at the sky.

......eh?

As I questioned the sudden sensation, I was assaulted by pain as my back hit the ground.

"Ow!"

I blinked a few time and shook my head to clear it, then looked at where I was standing to see if I could figure out what just happened.

What just happened is a kid just sent me flying a good 3 feet away just by running into me.

The kid that ran into me then rushed over looking worried.

"Are you okay, miss?"

I just stared in response, wondering how strong this kid is to have done something like that. Suddenly a screen appeared in front of me.

Come to think of it, there was an appraisal skill in my status wasn't there?

As I looked at the status screen in front of me, I gaped.

--------------------------------------------------------
Name: Mevin Justivia
Age: 6
Race: Human
Class: Villager
Level: 18
Hp: 240/240 (7)
Mp: 130/130 (9)
Sp: 187/290 (100)
Str: 29
Int: 14
Con: 23
Wis: 13
Dex: 17
Spd: 20
Luk: 31

Titles: None

Unique Skills: None

Combat Skills: None

Life Skills: None
---------------------------------------------------

....why is this child so much stronger than me?

To begin with, his strength is more than twice my defense! No wonder I went flying! Still, this is some random child. Does this mean they're all like this? Doesn't that mean I'm really weak? Can I even kill a monster with stats like this?

Noticing the boy still staring at me, as well as the crowd beginning to form, I scrambled to my feet, gave a quick apology and ran off.

==================

After running a good distance away from the crowd I ducked into a small alleyway and leaned on the wall, breathing heavily.

The whole town's gonna know me at this rate...

Still, what was up with those stats? If a child can beat me, what chance do I have against monsters? Did I have to deal with this when I started out? No, I'd never have kept playing.

Players start at level one, so I should be able to beat a monster. Probably. Hopefully.

I suppose there's only one way to find out.

And with that thought in mind, I searched for the town gate once more.

======================

Arriving in a grassy field just left of the town's entrance, I saw slimes hopping around all over. Seemingly, slimes were the only thing that spawned in this field. I spotted a few people here and there hunting the slimes. The forest that bordered it seemed foreboding, but it was a fairly peaceful hunting ground.

Spotting a slime that was all by itself, I started to approach it. Feeling apprehensive, I tried to check it's stats as I approached.

-----------------------------------------------------
[Status]
Name: Slime
Species: Blue Slime
Level: 8
Hp: 210/210 (30)
Mp: 40/40 (5)
Sp: 200/200 (80)
Str: 27
Int: 12
Con: 23
Wis: 9
Dex: 26
Spd: 17
Luk: 22

Skills: [Absorb lv 22] [Tackle lv 12] [Slime Whip lv 3]
----------------------------------------------------

.......beatable. It's beatable, so long as I'm careful. Mostly thanks to the small dagger I bought before leaving town. The only thing I had other than my clothes was a small, convenient bag with a single silver coin. Hopefully I can get some slime cores to sell, seeing as I spent all my money on this dagger.

I'm feeling weirdly apprehensive about this, but the worst that can happen is I respawn with a death penalty, so I hefted my dagger and charged at the slime.

"[Heavy Slice]!"

As I had the element of surprise, (I think. You can never tell where these things are facing) my initial attack hit the slime hard, sending it a few feet away from me. I rushed at it again, but this time it was ready for me. As I thrust my dagger towards it, it circled around to my back and tackled me. I did my best to twist me body out if the way, but it still grazed my back.

Fast! This thing is so fast!

Glancing at my hp, I saw that I had lost a full 10 hp.

Definitely can't afford to get hit head on, but if I approach, it'll just dodge.

I turned to the slime that had begun to charge at me again. But this time, I didn't move. As it jumped to tackle me, I thrust my dagger into it.

"Piii!!"

The slime cried out in pain and jumped back, but it's attack still knocked me off my feet. I now only had 30 hp left.

......I'm about to lose.... to a slime.... this is degrading....

"Watch out!"

Just I braced myself for the impact, the slime split in half and fell harmlessly on both sides of me. As I looked up, I saw a beautiful red haired knight sheathing her sword. She had pair of crimson eyes that matched the long, straight hair flowing past her shoulders. She was wearing a white coat with red outlines, a red shirt and a black skirt. There was an iron breastplate over her chest area and a concerned look on her face.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were having trouble."

She extended her hand to me. I reached out to grab it...

And promptly blacked out.