Mrs. Kelly pointed at me, and then at the large orange portal in the room. I showed her the piece of paper in my hand as I pointed at the red block on it called Jova, then pointed towards the portal. She nodded at me in confirmation as she backed away from the portal. It sure was difficult to communicate directions without the use of speech. Mrs. Kelly was quite skilled at conveying her thoughts with body language alone, but it was still a mistake for me to leave the world languages book behind on my corpse. I thought that I could take it slow today. That I would have had the time to think about the corpses and my deaths, but it has already been a crazy day today. The sun was barely up, and today had already been more ridiculous than yesterday. Which was unreal, because yesterday portals opened up and forced us all into video games.

I angled myself towards the portal, shut my eyes tight, and then charged forward at full speed. It was still awkward for me to run head first into solid objects, but it was the only way I knew how to enter the portals. Once Primrose was finished with his business, I needed to ask him what the trick to enter them was. I knew there were other ways to enter because Mrs. Kelly was allowed inside when her hand touched the portal. Whereas I needed to smash my entire body against it to force my way inside. On second thought, it really was not important enough to waste Primrose's time on such a useless question. I could enter the portals, that was all that mattered. It was probably better that I was nervous about portal entry anyway. It would ensure that I always respected them and would never take them for granted.

As before, there were no sensations or noticeable changes as I transferred from one location to another. One minute I was inside a small room with bookcases and a desk, then a quick dash forward later, and I stood before a gray stone wall in some medieval town. A guy with a long brown robe and a huge white staff told me to buy a white crystal in the town before he left. He looked like a shepherd without a flock to look after. Which was a strange sight to see in front of a massive building made out of red stone bricks. There were plenty of windows on the building, all of them larger than myself. Even the gray door near me was about a foot taller than myself. I found it weird that the door was barricaded from the outside. There was a horizontal bar across the door that would not let those inside of the building out. I walked by the npc and noticed more buildings with more barricaded doors. All of them secured from the outside.

I continued on, passed many more red-stoned buildings until I reached an open door with a cross above the doorway. A nearby shepherd warned me to be careful of crooked traders in the town, and then went on his way. After a brief glance at the church building, I moved passed it and explored more of the town. There were many more buildings that looked similar to the previous ones. Buildings that were made from large red stones and unnaturally large windows. Just before a gray stone wall blocked my path forward, there was a long staircase that led downward. Since there was a man there that stood in front of an opened door, I went down the stairs. He was completely covered by a dark gray robe. Even his head and face were covered by it. He offered to sell me a white crystal for fifty hearts. That must have been the crooked trader that the other npc warned me about. Hearts were not a form of currency. At least, they were not part of a transaction that I wanted any part of.

A peek inside the open door revealed another gray-robed man inside. I hoped that he would accept gold coins for his wares, and not hearts. It turned out that he also wanted hearts though. This place was obviously more dangerous than it seemed if the merchants only dealt with hearts. Most of the doors being secured from the outside did not help with the town's image either. With a thought, my inventory popped up in front of me. It showed that I did not have any gold on me at all. In fact, all the squares in my inventory were empty. The gold coins were probably left on one of my corpses in that other game, since my clothes and Spike Boots were also left there as well. So, I really hoped that combat would not be required because I did not have an effective way to fend off attackers without them.

I passed by the hooded man and went down another flight of stairs. The floors in the town were obviously designed for much taller people than myself. Each floor had around twenty feet of space in between them. Even the doorways probably allowed for eight-foot tall people to walk through them easily. Each floor had gray stone walls that prevented me from seeing what lay outside the town, but the lowest floor did not have a gray wall. Instead, there was an opening that allowed me to pass into a dense forest. There really should not have been such huge trees right outside town limits. The tree canopy started at twenty feet and I could not even see the tops of the trees, they were so densely packed together.

Two creatures emerged from the forest and headed towards me. A man in a wolf costume and a skeleton. No, that was not right, they probably were not men at all, but an actual wolf-man and a real skeleton. It was a little difficult for me to accept that they were not men in costumes, but non-human entities. The two of them approached me while I stood there and watched them. I had hoped that they were simply on their way to town, but of course, violence occurred. Every game seemed to thrive on violence. The wolf man did seem aggressive, but as soon as he neared me, he jumped towards me and attacked.

Wolf Man hits YOU for 8 points of damage.

I turned around and ran back inside the town, but this town did not have any guards to guard the entrance. There were no Trooper Taer's there to repel the attackers. Once inside the town, I turned back around and watched the two assailants. However, they were gone. It was as if they had never existed in the first place. The red bar that showed my hit points was shorter than the other two bars, so I definitely received damage. Those two npc attackers were definitely out there, I just could not see them anymore. Perhaps it was because I was inside the town. Maybe that was why the town did not have guards, because the attackers never entered the city.

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE.

Everything changed colors before my eyes. The red stone buildings turned a dark purplish-blue color. I could not see the sun, but it was as if the sun vanished without warning. A sunny afternoon one moment and the dead of night the next. The forest enemies still had not entered the city, but I did not know what they were capable of. I did not think that I would have been attacked inside the Iksar city either, but I left plenty of corpses behind to learn that lesson. Not sure what else to do, or where else to go, I decided to return to the church on the upper floor. I walked up the first flight of stairs, but instead of a gray-robed man looking for hearts, I instead found a glowing green woman with black hair. She flailed her hands around as she charged at me.

Zombie hits YOU for 12 points of damage.

You have become better at Defense. (6)

I dashed passed the attacking woman and tried to enter into the open doorway behind her. However, even though the door was open, there was no way for me to get inside. It was as if a black wall had been placed over the empty doorway. The zombie attacked me twice more as I tried to force may way inside the door, but nothing happened. Well, no changes except for the red bar that decreased further. My hit points had lowered again after her attack. I rushed up another set of stairs in a mad dash towards the church. If anyplace were safe, it would be the church.

Unfortunately, more frantic women attacked me on the upper floor. My hit points had dropped to roughly three-quarters of its total and there were several of them chasing me towards the church. It did not take me long to get to the open door with the cross above it. The women were much slower than me, so I had time to enter the church safely. At least, until the open door also refused my entry. It was ridiculous that an open door could be closed. Obviously, there was much that I did not know about video games, but to think that even the very concept of an open door had refused me. Video games were just too confusing.

Redmaw: if you are not busy i am trapped open doors that are really closed doors and women are attacking me

Primrose: Hmmm, let's see....AH! Yeah, must be night time there. I'll skip the details, but doors are only “open” during the day time. You can't enter them at night.

Redmaw: the women are still attacking me can not get into the church

Primrose: The spike boots didn't take care of them?

Redmaw: i think i left them in the other game on a corpse

Primrose: You died in the newbie zone? With the spike boots? AH! Was it Trooper Taer? If you left spurs in the path of an npc, it would take damage and attack you.

So that was what happened with the crusader and trooper inside the city. I put the spike boots on to defeat the frogmen that attacked me, but ended up hurting the Iksar npcs nearby too. It was no wonder that Primrose said not to wear them on Earth. People would really get hurt if I left spurs all over the place that dealt 100 damage. At least the women that had attacked me did not stay around and continue the assault. They hit me and then ran away. Well, they did end up hitting me several times because I happened to run in the same direction that they were apparently already headed. I stood still at the open door and waited for daytime, when the church would open its doors.

THE MORNING SUN HAS VANQUISHED THE HORRIBLE NIGHT.

Luckily, no other attackers came to harass me and I entered the church after sunrise. Everything was gray, blue, and white inside. The largest windows I had ever seen were between some thick white pillars. Another gray-robed man stood underneath the cross, but unlike the others, he did not have a hood over his face. He told me that I could rest there for awhile. I heard a loud ding sound as the red bar that represented my hit points filled up completely. The priest said that I could rest here, so I might as well check the schedule while Primrose was not busy.

Redmaw: i am not really sure what to do here

Primrose: That really depends on you. Without the Spike Boots, you'll have to fight with your fists. I'm sure you had your reasons for leaving the boots behind, but well, remember that this is the result of your own actions.

Redmaw: i am sorry i did not know

Primrose: Your apology doesn't change anything. You're there now and you don't have the boots. So what are you going to do? This'll probably be your only chance to play that game. You'll really miss out on some great benefits if you leave without accomplishing anything.

Redmaw: what should i do?

Primrose: Honestly? Get over your fear of violence. These are npcs and don't deserve your compassion. At the very least you should learn to defend yourself against attackers.

Redmaw: but the spike boots can take care of them

Primrose: Yeah? How's that working out for you when you left them behind? The boots are just a temporary solution anyway. A great one for now, but still only temporary.

Primrose was right, of course. These were the results of my own actions. I could have retrieved the boots and clothing from the corpse. I even left behind all the gold coins that I spent hours earning. Primrose must really be disappointed in me, he sent those boots to me specifically because of my unwillingness to fight others. He was right though. At the very least, I should be able to defend myself and not rely on others to defend me. It had not even been a day since the Spike Boots arrived, and I already relied on them to protect me. Laughable, really, since I willingly left them behind earlier. It was really stupid of me.

Redmaw: it was my fault, so I will accept responsibility for my actions

Primrose: sounds nice, but what does that mean?

Redmaw: i will try to defend myself, if i can

Primrose: EXCELLENT! Then leave the town and head to the right, through the woods. You'll eventually come to a huge mansion. Let me know when you enter inside. Be sure to pick up the loose hearts on the way there.

It was time that I learned to defend myself. Even if it was just against aggressors, that meant me harm. To rely on a piece of equipment was a mistake. There was no guarantee that it would always be there to protect me, or that it would always work. Primrose admitted that it was just meant as a temporary solution. I had assumed that the second path he mentioned was for me to use the boots. As if the boots alone would solve all my problems with attackers. There really was no difference between relying on items or relying on other people. They were all doomed to fail eventually. Even if it was my own fault that the boots were not there, it did not change the fact that they were unable to protect me right now. In less than a day, they had already failed to protect me from my attackers.

After leaving the church, I retraced my previous steps. The villagers repeated their phrases at me as I passed, and the merchants still wanted hearts for their wares. I reached the forest again and looked out from the town. There were no npcs in sight, just an oppressive forest full of immense trees. A canopy so thick that it blotted out the sun. I walked forward and the same two attackers appeared again. A wolf man and a skeleton. They approached me and I walked out to meet them. The wolf man jumped up in the air toward me, as the skeleton followed closely from behind.

Wolf Man hits YOU for 8 points of damage.

To my surprise, the wolf man continued through me after he attacked me. Just like the glowing women from the town that attacked me at night. I turned around and watched the npc as it continued on towards the town, but then it stopped, turned around, and headed back towards me again. Either the two of them were focused only on me, or they really could not enter the town. The skeleton also hit me from behind as it walked through me. It did not seem like these npcs actually attacked me. More like they had simply damaged me upon contact. In a way, does not that also mean that I was partially at fault for the damage?

Skeleton his YOU for 8 points of damage.

At least, with both of the npcs in between me and the town, I was able to walk away without fighting them. I quickly escaped from the two of them and came upon another wolf man. He also jumped into the air when he closed the distance between us. It had not occurred to me before, but the wolf men jumped really high into the air. When he got closer to me, I crouched underneath him as I dashed forward. It passed over my head without any contact! No damage was dealt to me at all. There was a small incline of blocks afterward with a skeleton that paced back and forth. Since the wolf men can jump so high, I wondered if it was possible for me to jump high too. When the skeleton got close to me, I jumped up as high as I could. I managed to leap over it!

The npcs could be avoided entirely. I just needed to run underneath them or jump over them to avoid conflict. I passed underneath another wolf man and then jumped over a few skeletons as I traversed the forest. There was a large stone bridge up ahead with more skeletons on it, but I was not concerned anymore. I jumped over two of them on my way across the bridge. A pink fish man lept out of the water and onto the bridge. It caused me to slow down, which was good because there were sections of the bridge that were missing. The bridge was in such bad shape that even the water could be seen underneath. The fish man spit out a fireball at me, but it was easily dodged by ducking under it.

He moved back and forth a bit before he jumped back into the water. Only when a second fish man appeared did I realize how easy it was to get passed them too. When they jumped out of the water, they leapt incredibly high up into the air, which made it really easy to run underneath them. I jumped from bridge section to bridge section, and also dashed underneath pink fish man, to make it across the bridge pretty easily. There were some more skeletons to jump over afterward. Quite a few more, but once I knew the trick, they were easy to get passed. There were two tricky skeletons on small stone platforms that I was unable to pass without contact though, so I received some damage from them. Other than that instance, I managed to reach the mansion Primrose talked about without much issue.

Redmaw: I think I made it to the mansion there is a large fence in front of a massive wall

Primrose: Great! That was really fast. How many hearts did you pick up?

Redmaw: I did not see any

Primrose: The enemies drop them after you defeat them. How many did you fight?

Redmaw: the npcs let me by without a fight i did not have to fight with them

Primrose: ….....