Chapter 2: A vision to the past

“I think this entire place needs to be destroyed, man. Just deleted. It’s too much effort to keep this fucking shithole up and running bro, and we have other starting zones to replace it anyways.” 

This is bad news. I can’t allow this thing to destroy the shining valley! These are good people here, these are MY people! I need to protect these people! I need to destroy this demon! I charge at the stone being and I see his health bar appear next to mine

Chris_GM (Level 500)

Health (60/15000)

Mana (12/25000)

“Oh christ, theres a level 1 charging at me dude, you have to get me out of here I’m only at 60 HP, HES GONNA FUCKIN’ KILL ME XANDER IF YOU DON’T GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

I leap towards the stone-skinned demon, and I finally get a glimpse of his face. There is no mouth, no eyes, no nose, just a flat and cracked façade of a person. I don’t know who he’s talking to, but it looks like it's extremely low on HP and doesn't have enough mana to stop my attacks or to retreat. I need to kill this vile fiend before whoever Xander is teleports him away! I use the courage I’ve been gaining fighting worgs to cast [strike] followed by [swing], and with an intermittent auto attack this creature is only a [strike] away from death.

“HURRY THE FUCK UP XANDER I’M OUT OF MANA! THE SHITTY GAME BUGGED OUT AND I HAD TO CAST REVIVE! I’M 20HP BRO GET ME OOOUU-”

Before he could finish his final words my cooldown on strike reset and it was game over for the stone creature. The being fell to the ground, and the purple gem illuminating the surroundings pulsed brighter and brighter to a blinding light. Purple wisps began flying out from the cracks of its stone corpse, and I backed away far enough so that when the being eventually erupted into pure purple light and shards of his stone body flew in every direction, I was able to block the sharatenel with the shield I was gifted earlier. Once I was certain the dramatic death of the demon was over, I looked at the crater it’s death caused, and a singular purple gem sat in the center. I walk over slowly to investegate, and I found an item called [GM_DEBUG.TOOL].

I further inspect the strangely named stone in the crater and read its description:

[GM_DEBUG.TOOL] - allows the user to access GM information and have cognition beyond the game (usable for each member of the party). (Legendary)

Ok. That's a lot to unpack. First of all, hooray! A legendary item! Second of all, the description does little to help me understand what it does. What is “GM information”? What the hell does “cognition beyond the game” mean? Why is the stone named so weirdly? No matter. What's important now is that I defended the village from a threat I'm unsure our leaders even knew existed. I can't wait to tell sergeant Kleo about my battle! I open my inventory and equip this strange gem to my Trinket slot.

Armor

Head: [N/A]

Shoulders: [N/A]

Chest: Standard issue Chestpiece (common)

Gloves: Standard issue Gloves (common)

Belt: Standard issue Belt (common)

Leggings: Standard issue Leggings (common)

Boots: Standard issue Boots (common)

Trinket [Slot 1]: GM_DEBUG.TOOL (Legendary)

Trinket [Slot 2]: [N/A]

Trinket [Slot 3]: [N/A]

Weapons

Main hand: Standard issue sword (common)

Secondary hand: Standard issue Shield (common)

The decision to equip the strange stone immediately seemed to be a grave mistake. A very sharp and intense pain penetrates my skull and dives deep into my cranium. I am overloaded and overstimulated, as if two entirely separate lives started merging into one. Dazed and overwhelmed, I fall face first into the crater, and drift into unconsciousness.