I swung the door open, a huge grin on my face. It was so dark inside the room that I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me. I fumbled for a lightswitch. Mercifully, I found one on the wall. I flipped the switch and harsh, bright lights filled the small room. It was a bathroom. A very gross bathroom.

Are you kidding me?

A rat (or something else furry and fast) scurried across the tile floor and out of sight. A spider dangled on a web, suspended like a pendulum over the toilet. I grimaced with disgust. I can’t believe I just wasted EXP on this! All the excitement left me, and I felt like a deflated balloon.

I heard a happy chime that seriously mismatched my current mood.

You’ve unlocked a new area of the world! Bathroom, 1F.

My To Do list suddenly changed.

EXP: 7

To Do:

(1) Unlock a New Area of the World

(2) Unlock a New Area of the World

 

I consoled myself that I still had 7 EXP left, and could open one more door. This is what my To Do list was pushing as well, so I figured that was the right action to take.

I immediately left the bathroom to do so. Truthfully, I wasn’t mentally prepared yet to tangle with the rat (or something) that lived in the bathroom.

Across the hall, I went to the Northeast door. It was the only one I could unlock now, and I would spend all of my EXP to do so. I was hoping that this new room would contain another puzzle so that I could at least earn more EXP to open the rest of the doors.

I came to the Northeast door. The familiar message flashed.

Locked!

Spend 7 EXP to unlock?

I quickly answered yes, and the door clicked open. I watched my EXP drain to 0, and walked into the room.

It was much more spacious than the hallway or the bathroom, but just as filthy. Maybe more so.

You’ve unlocked a new area of the world! Kitchen, 1F.

I had unlocked two whole rooms. It was a bit of a stretch to call that a new area of the world.

My To Do list changed again.

 

To Do:

(1) Unlock a New Area of the World

(2) Unlock a New Area of the World

(3) Unlock a New Skill

 

Across from the door was a large mullioned window, which let in a sickly half-light. The window could use some serious washing. It looked like it was foggy outside, but when I approached the window, I realized I could not see very much out of the glass panes. There were hazy outlines of what might be a street and other buildings, but it was hard to distinguish anything. Maybe the street outside was locked for now?

The room was supposedly a kitchen. There was so much trash everywhere, piled on counters, on a table, and on the floor, that I would not have known if it weren't for the system message.

I did spot a large brick fireplace, whitewashed at some point, now sooty and splotched with black. There was an assortment of intimidating cast iron tools lying close to the fireplace. Bronze pots and pans hung on a rack above, and intermingled between them there were bundles of dried herbs, hung upside down. There were cobwebs stretching the heavy wooden beams of the ceiling, and the intricately carved cabinets were all covered in dust. There was a sink too, but it was piled high with dirty dishes.

I decided I wanted to rest for a few minutes, and check out the system menus I had unlocked so far. It might give me a hint of how I could unlock more skills. I knew that I had already unlocked Alchemy and Speech by solving a riddle, and I was excited to see what other kinds of skills might be available.

If I wanted to take a break , I would need somewhere to sit.

I looked over the table, and decided to clean it off. I found an aluminum trash bin in the corner of the kitchen and dragged it over. There were crumpled bits of paper, and scraps of food covering the table. I pushed them all into the trash bin. A few stray dishes, covered in unknown substances, I found a place for in the overflowing sink. Once I had cleared the last piece of trash off the circular wooden table, I saw this message:

 

+2 EXP

1 Skill Unlocked!

  +2 SKP Tidying (Homesteading)

 

I blinked. Seriously? I could get EXP and SKP just for cleaning? A grin stretched across my face. I was initially dismayed by the dirt and mess which had been so pervasive everywhere in this house. Now, I looked at it as an opportunity; a golden chest of EXP to earn. I looked around the kitchen and all the dust and spiderwebs were converting themselves into EXPs in my imagination. Soon enough, I would unlock every door in this house! I might even get as far as the street.

I heard a little chime, and my To Do list changed once again.

 

To Do:

(1) Unlock a New Area of the World

(2) Unlock a New Area of the World

(3) Unlock a New Skill

Then:

3 To Do items complete!

+10 EXP

 

The skill I unlocked was Tidying. I didn’t think unlocking a new skill was going to be so easy. I now had 12 EXP, enough to unlock another door!

The To Do list disappeared for now. It seemed like 3 was the magic number of completed objectives to turn into EXP.

I sat down at the table, and focused on my overlay.

I had 12 EXP in the corner, and the only thing I could see was the Character Sheet. I mentally prodded the Character Sheet, and a whole mess of text started blooming in front of me.

Sign: Snake

 

Buffs: Serpent’s Kiss (Romance twice as easy)

Debuffs: Curse of the Unspecified (???)

 

Cards of Destiny: 3 of ?? Discovered

 

EXP: 12

 

Skills:

  Alchemy

    Coagula

    LVL 0

    2 of 30 SKP for next level

 

  Speech

    Logic

    LVL 0

    8 of 12 SKP for next level

 

  Homesteading

    Tidying

    LVL 0

    2 of 10 SKP for next level

 

Total SKP: 12

 

Other Effects: ???

I didn’t see anything in the character sheet that was new to me. I supposed that new skill trees would be unlocked as I gained Skill Points by doing tasks relevant to the skill.

If tidying up was a skill that I could level, what about cooking? What about repairing? I wobbled the once-handsome wooden table. It needed some TLC, and I needed a good table. Maybe I could get SKPs out of that?

I made a mental note to come back to that. After all, I now had enough EXP to unlock a third door. My curiosity about what else was in this house won over my desire for more EXP. I left the kitchen and went to the south door.

The south door was actually a double door, with two handsome bronze handles set into solid wood. I couldn’t identify the wood, but it had been stained a rich, dark brown, which was still quite nice looking even under a generous coat of dust.

I navigated the familiar text boxes, unlocked and opened the double door. My EXP drained until I had only 2 remaining.

You’ve unlocked a new area of the world! Front Room, 1F.

I walked into the most spacious room I had unlocked so far, but also the most cluttered.

The title, Front Room, wasn’t descriptive, and it was hard to know exactly what this room was. I walked around, carefully picking my path through what looked like wooden display shelves, with dusty glass containers packed on every square inch of the wooden shelving.

At the back of the room, I noticed a wrought iron spiral staircase. I didn't even have to check to know that it would be locked, and would take EXP to open.

On one side, there was a long counter, with more shelving behind it. It reminded me of a shop counter, or a bar.

Across from the wooden double doors where I came in were large windows, set into brick. Just like in the kitchen, it looked like outside was foggy, and I wouldn’t be able to see much of the street. The windows stretched all across the wall, and centered between them, was the front door. I rushed to that door, almost tripping myself on a broom which was haphazardly leaned against a shelf. I tried the door.

 

Locked!

Spend 750 EXP to unlock?

 

Holy cow! 750 EXP? At this rate, I would be housebound for a long, long time. Dirty as the house was, I wasn’t sure there was enough cleaning to be done to earn that much EXP.

I continued exploring the front room.

The door to the street had a sign, which hung off a nail in the door. It was a classic Open/Closed shop sign. More clues that ‘Front Room’ was meant as some kind of Shop Front, although I had no idea what kind merchandise it might sell.

Inspecting the glass containers on the shelves, I saw that they were all empty, save dust. Some had blank parchment stuck on as a label, now peeling at the corners. None of the labels had any text to tell me what they might hold.

I turned back to the counter. Perhaps I would find a clue to what kind of goods this Shop Front was supposed to trade. And just then I’d noticed; there were two animals watching me silently from the counter.