Primrose: Open up your inventory. It's time you learned what your stats actually mean and how powerful you really are.

Primrose: Your name will appear in the upper left corner. Underneath it will be your level and class. For you that would be a level 5 Beastlord.

Redmaw: my name is not redmaw though

Primrose: Well, it is for now. If you want to change it later then you can. What is written underneath the number 5?

Redmaw: Cazic-Thule

Primrose: Yeah, that makes sense given your race. Underneath that is your HP, which stands for Hit Points or Health Points. What is the number to the right of that?

Redmaw: it see 488/488, but that should be a 1

Primrose: ?? OH! LOL! That's not 488 divided by 488, but 488 out of 488. It shows how much damage you can take before unconsciousness. Since it's full, that means you're at full health. No damage to your body. What does it say next to MP?

Redmaw: 550/550

Primrose: NICE! Those are your Mana Points. How much mana you have determines how many magic spells you can cast before you need to rest up. That's quite a lot!

Redmaw: magic is not real

Primrose: MAGIC IS REAL! I've been casting spells all day.

Redmaw: no magic is not real

Magic just could not be real. It just could not be. All the dreams I had, the stories I read, and all the prayers I performed. So much wasted time and energy. When Father asked what I prayed for, of course I told him the truth. He just laughed. Laughed at me. It was the only time in my life that I heard Father laugh that hard, and he laughed at me. I also laughed with him. I told him that it was just a joke. I was happy that I could make Father happy. That fib put a stop to his laughter immediately. Father always said that he despised liars the most. I knew that, but in my effort to join Father in his happiness, well, liars deserved to be punished. I deserved to be punished for the lie I told to Father. That was actually when Father moved me downstairs into the cellar. I do not know what Father said to me while I fell down the stairs, but it must have been wise. If only my ears had not been ringing. Father only spoke to me when he imparted his wisdom. It must have been important, but I missed his words.

Primrose: Hey, I get it. You're not the first kid to dream of magical powers to help them out of a jam. Just wait until you reach level 9, then you'll see. Beastlords begin learning magic spells at level 9. Look forward to it!

Redmaw: i just i do not know

Primrose: Then let me put it all into perspective for you. Many players will have 100 or fewer HP to start off with. You have almost FIVE TIMES that amount already. Most players will have less than 100 MP at the start, and you have five and a half times that amount too. You're really strong. Really, really strong. You just need to learn how to use your strength. This isn't a dream where the person just becomes amazing with a snap of the fingers, you'll need to train in order to use your powers effectively. What do you say?

Redmaw: i just i just do not know i do not know anything about this sort of thing ill just disappoint you

Primrose: I HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE! I know all about video games. I've been playing them since forever! I just don't have many people that I can trust. You said that you were amazing at keeping secrets, didn't you?

Redmaw: I am good with secrets

Primrose: Then why shouldn't I trust you? We're already secret-keepers, aren't we? I know I can trust you!

Redmaw: You can trust me!

Primrose: Then please believe me! You will be able to cast magic spells when you reach level 9. That's just four more levels for you, since you're level 5 right now. The spells will be rather limited to start out with, but they will grow more powerful the more you practice and the higher your levels go up!

Magic! Real, honest to goodness, magic. I knew it. I just knew it existed. Father laughed at me, but he....actually, Father never said that magic did not exist. He just laughed at me when I told him that I wished for it. Maybe he just thought that I was not capable of magic. That I was not good enough for magic. In the stories, magic was always wielded by old, bearded men that wore cloaks and pointy hats. They were very wise and powerful. Everything that I was not. Even after Mother helped me burn the books, I just could not forget about magic. Especially when we prayed to the Lord. He used magic, and he even used it when his beard was not yet white. Jesus even wore a cloak, but he did not have a pointy hat on his head. I just could not understand the difference between magic and miracles. When I asked Mother if Jesus had a pointy hat, she happily showed me a picture of the Lord as he dragged the cross through town. He did have a pointy hat. It was so pointy that it caused him pain as he wore it. I was shocked. The thought that crowns were also hats had never occurred to me. Deep down, I had always imagined the pointy hats to be dunce caps. That even the slow and the stupid could one day learn magic.

Elven King says, 'Glad you could come. Disaster has befallen us. The Elf fountain water, our life source, has stopped. The wells are drying up. Many men went out and nobody came back. You are our last hope. I shall give you 1500 Golds. Prepare for your journey with this money. It will be a dangerous journey. Take care of yourself.'

My right hand clenched into a fist and it raised up high all on its own. Calm down, I needed to calm down. After a deep inhale, I slowly counted backwards from 10 while I regained control. The King needed to save his people. A King to be respected. He even offered up so many gold coins to a complete stranger just because of a silly identification ring. Unfortunately, I did not know anything about water fountains or how to service them. If it was just a matter of lower water levels in the nearby river or reservoir, then it was possible that the problem could be solved with shovels. I only had a novice's knowledge of plumbing. Not even qualified for an apprenticeship yet. Father always said that the trades were important and honorable professions. He even allowed me to watch him fix a leaky pipe once because I was so comfortable with basements.

Redmaw: I should help the king

Primose: It's just an NPC inside of a game. It doesn't matter. Just ignore it and collect the money.

Redmaw: he just wants to save his people

Primrose: All right, I'll humor you. Let's see....didn't the npc say something like, “I already sent many people to their deaths, but I don't know you, so you're expendable. Go forth and die.”

Redmaw: that is not what he said not exactly

Primrose: The npc doesn't seem to have any money problems, right? It just hands over tons of gold to a stranger. Didn't you think it was weird that the “new person in town” was given a ring and tasked with saving them all? It's not like there aren't other people in the town to send. Elves are usually like that. Willing to sacrifice all of the non-Elves first, before risking any of their own race. Remind me, did the king say he sent out elves or men?

Redmaw: men

Primrose: Yeah, most elves are racist. They'll take advantage of you and then abandon you or stab you in the back afterwards.

Redmaw: i thought the king looked honorable

Primrose: Well, I guarantee that the npc won't tell you that in order to save them all, you need to put on cursed armor, dooming yourself forever. I know games, remember? Just collect the gold as fast as possible and get out. I'm putting a schedule together for you. The sooner you're out, the better.

A new schedule created just for me. I have followed the schedule for so long. I could not even remember what it felt like not to follow it. Father usually left me alone unless I messed the schedule up. As long as I followed it exactly, I would not inconvenience Father, and he would not be forced to educate me. Not that I minded Father when he imparted more of his wisdom to me. It was just that I could not handle too much of his wisdom. So it was better not to mess up, if at all possible. I did mess up on purpose once, many years ago. Just to get Father's attention. Somehow Father knew and punished me for it. I probably made a face and gave myself away. Father said that it would be a lesson that I would never forget, and he was right. I had never forgotten and always kept to the schedule. No matter what. At least, I had up until today.

Elven King says, 'Glad you could come. Disaster has befallen us. The Elf fountain water, our life source, has stopped. The wells are drying up. Many men went out and nobody came back. You are our last hope. I shall give you 1500 Golds. Prepare for your journey with this money. It will be a dangerous journey. Take care of yourself.'

Primrose was right. This did take a very long time. The king spoke those same lines every single time. Only after he was finished, and blinked at me dozens of times while the typewriter sounded, would the gold be added to my inventory window. Then the gold had to be physically removed and dropped to the ground before the king could speak again. I had repeated this process for quite a while, but the number of bags beneath me did not seem like they added up to much. I hoped none of the coins disappeared. In my head, there should have been 522,000 gold coins in the brown bags below, or maybe it was 520,500. His second line of dialogue popped up once before, I think, or it could have been twice. It was a bit of a struggle to keep track of the total while my mind wandered. Father would be disappointed in me if he knew how easily I allowed myself to be distracted. I needed to concentrate and not make any more mistakes.

Elven King says, 'There is nothing more I can do to help you. Looking forward to good news.'

Redmaw: i do not know what to do

Primrose: Okay, how can I help?

Redmaw: i lost track of the gold

Primrose: Was it stolen somehow? It didn't despawn, um, disappear, did it?

Redmaw: no it is on the ground probably

Primrose: Then I don't understand what the problem is. Please explain it to me.

Redmaw: i do not know how many coins are there either 522,000 or 520,500

Primrose: Um, okay, then please try picking them up and putting them back where you got them from.

I was not sure how this would help me remember the total, but decided to try out Primrose's idea. She knew everything about games. I reached down and picked up a brown bag. Even though it looked like a small sack on the ground, it turned into a gold coin, with the number 1500 below it, when it was in my hand. The coins were brought over to the part of the inventory that held the gold. There was already a 1500 shown there, but I did as Primrose said and pushed the two numbers into each other. They actually combined and totaled 3000. I almost messaged Primrose, and asked her what to do next, but I caught myself. It was problem that I should have been able to figure out on my own. There did not seem to be many bags below my feet, but the bag I picked up had not disappeared. I reached down and picked the bag up again, but concentrated on the bag instead of the coins. Even when the bag was lifted and converted back into coins, the bag was still there on the ground. Since my other hand was free, I picked up the bag again, but the bag still remained there on the ground. Even though I held two gold coins in my hands. Both with the number 1500 below them.  I pushed them into the gold section of the inventory window, which brought the total up to 6000. The bags on the ground were somehow inside of each other. They took up the same space while on the ground. Over the next few minutes, I managed to pick up all the bags and combine them. When they were all gone, I finally had the total.

Redmaw: 531,000 gold coins

Primrose: Pretty nice, you're over half way there. Keep it up!

Redmaw: i mess up though I should be punished

Primrose: Um, okay, how did you mess up?

Redmaw: i let my mind wander and forgot the total i need to be punished

Primrose: Is that really necessary? You were at it for over 3 hours and only lost a few minutes to recount.

Redmaw: if father finds out no if possible could you punish me instead i dont want to bother father if I dont have to

Primrose: Um, okay, then your punishment is to get an extra 100,000 gold coins. It'll come in handy anyway.....Practice makes perfect, right? So, um, practice getting coins a little longer, okay?

Redmaw: YES! I CAN DO THAT!

To think that his punishment would be so easy. I just had to do what I had already done. The practice would continue until I was better at it. Father always said that it was important to learn lessons through failure. I was not good at anything until after I practiced it over and over again. So, I redoubled my efforts and obtained even more gold. Coins were dropped, typewriters and dings sounded, more coins were gained. The process was actually very similar to the chores that I was so used to. Once I fell into a rhythm, and quieted the distractions in my head, the time just flew by. I did not let the small amount of brown bags at my feet discourage me. They must have been stacked inside of each other, like before. The king's refusal to help me did not fluster me as it did before. I just practiced more, and improved myself more. After many more hours of repetition, I finally collected all the little brown bags at my feet and added them to the inventory.

Redmaw: i have 1,113,000 gold coins

Primrose: WOW! Well done! You did it!

Redmaw: i thought that i stopped at 1,101,000 though

Primrose: That just means you've exceeded my expectations. I'll have to give you a reward.

Redmaw: REWARD!!?!

Primrose: Yeah, obviously, it takes a special kind of person to repeat the same task for 7 hours.

Redmaw: MOTHER SAID I WAS SPECIAL!

Primrose: I'm sure she did. You're very....dedicated. I'm glad I can trust you!

Redmaw: YOU CAN TRUST ME!

Primrose: I know I can trust you. We'll make a great team. You can leave that game soon, but since you have some extra gold, you should buy a few items that will help you. Exit the castle and head to the third door on your left. Watch out for the little creatures that like to hide behind the pillars.

I was so excited to receive a reward and also to be a part of a team. I had never joined a team before. There were some teams in the commune years ago, but Mother said it was only for adults and those chosen to play. She was always so exhausted when she returned from her team activities. The more that they teamed up with her, the sorer she would be afterward. Mother said that I would never be chosen because I was special. It really was not fair. So many of the other children were chosen, but never me. Father always said that life was not fair. He really was wise. Unlike the sneaky king that stood before me. It was silly of me to have trusted in him just because he was a king. He had sent so many men to their deaths just because they were unimportant to him. I did not bow or kneel to him as I walked out of his throne room. Well, ran away, really. Just in case there were knights hidden nearby.

The only knight nearby was the blue knight that stood outside the front door. He did not yell at me either, he just wished me good luck. The woman I passed earlier told me of a fountain location in another town, but Primrose said that I should not help these people. The little snail creatures were avoided easily thanks to her reminder. Instead of another complaint about short people, the chain smoker suggested that I purchase a weapon. I had never liked violence. Father always said that violence should be forced onto you, never willfully chosen. If I had not been such a disappointment, then Father would not have been forced to educate me as often as he did. Violence was wrong. I did not need a weapon from the smoker.

Redmaw: I am at the third door

Primrose: Excellent! The Red Potions will be helpful in the future. The next game on your schedule will be quicker than this one. I hope you like reading, dragons, and aren't afraid of the dark....