Jacob eyes opened.
Shoes… he saw a pair of brown leather shoes.
He was on the floor again.
But he was breathing. Reaching for his throat – he quickly jerked up and looked at the shoes that led up to a woman in a lab coat looking down at him. She looked peculiar, in a modern lab coat but standing in an apothecary that looked like a shop from the 1500s. She looked like she was in her early thirties, brown hair that framed her face, sharp features – and annoyed.
Jacob cleared his throat in the awkward moment and quickly stood up.
The screen appeared before him.
[USER TOOK ANTI-TOXIN.
RESULT: TOXIN 100% REMOVED]
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Jacob brushed himself off and turned towards the woman to thank her – seeing her face vaguely behind the screen prompt.
"Did you give me something? Thank you," he said.
"Tsk," she scoffed. "I hope you don't think I am falling for this trick – 50 coins. Now, I've already called the patrol."
"50 coins? Sorry?"
The woman rolled her eyes. She reached within her pocket and pulled out an empty vial.
"I'm not falling for this trick anymore." She threw the vial at him, and he dodged, holding his hand up in a surrender motion.
"Wait – hold on now," he dodged something else she had thrown.
"You warriors come in here half dead, forcing me to heal you – then dash before paying – not this time!" she chucked another vial at him, he successfully dodged it again – to his own surprise, that his dexterity was so good.
"Wait, I think there's been a misunderstanding," he said – taking a step and desperately reaching out towards her, grabbing the arm that was mid-throw. The two tangled as she resisted and they tripped and fell. Him landing on his back and her on top of him. Their faces now just an inch apart.
"Hey… just let me explain, or maybe actually I think you need to explain to me – I don't really understand what's going o—"
Headbutt – she rose from his body after crashing her head onto his.
Jacob closed his eyes in frustration – grabbing his head where the headbutt had left a small sting.
The screen appeared again.
[PHYSICAL DAMAGE CANNOT BE TRACKED
UNTIL USER HAS COMPLETED THE TRIALS]
The woman was stood, continuing a verbal assault that he didn't hear, distracted by the screen.
"Completed the trials? What the hell is all this…" Jacob grabbed at his head.
"HEY!? Are you listening? Patrol is here. If you're not going to pay me, you'll have to answer to them," the woman screamed at him.
"Listen lady, I really don't know what's going on here!" He scrambled onto his feet.
"Pay you? Sure, but I don't have an—
Jacob stopped as the screen appeared, reacting to him saying the word "Pay"
[COINS: 0]
This time, he noticed on the screen – towards the left that there seemed to be a menu of items. Observing them he read them top to bottom.
[USER.
INVENTORY.
EQUIP.
SKILLS.
LOG OFF]
The door to the apothecary slammed open, a several men dressed in matching armor walked in with authority. Their faces covered by the knight style helmets they were wearing. They were equipped with long swords and shields that had
The woman pointed at him. "Him, he's one of the scammers I keep telling you about!"
The patrolmen at the front of the crew took a step towards Jacob.
He didn't understand what was going on, but he could tell enough that this was a bad situation.
The patrolmen observed him and tilted his helmeted head to the side.
"You're a new user?" he asked – voice muffled behind the helmet.
"I suppose so," Jacob responded. Still not sure what a user was.
The patrolman turned back towards his crew; he scoffed and turned back towards Jacob. "Yeah sure you are – We've got one boys," and went to grab at Jacob. As he began to pull Jacob towards them, Jacob heard a familiar voice.
"Grey" it hissed, the nasally voice of Viel seeming to come from his head, "Summon Grey."
Not sure what to do or who to trust – Jacob pulled back against the patrolman who found that Jacob's soft yank sent his full armored body back a step.
"I summon Grey," Jacob said.
A powerful force pushed against the man and sent him flying into his other patrolmen who all fell over.
Above Jacob, a dark swirling circle appeared above him and opened wider as it turned into a grey stormy cloud. From the cloud, the sharp point of a silver blade began to peek through and slowly fall through the cloud and directly into Jacob's hand – which instinctually went to grab the hilt.
The sword was a massive blade, with hammered edges, and its hilt wrapped in a dark grey fabric that hung at torn and tattered edges.
Jacob felt a surge of power as he held the sword – and as confused as he was, there was a part of him that understood exactly what was going on. There was a feeling of knowing he felt as he held the blade – and he realized that if any of these patrolmen approached him, he would know how to strike.
"How can a new user have summon technique?" one of the patrolmen, still on the floor, asked panicked.
"New User!" the lead patrolmen shouted. "Explain yourself – who are you exactly?"
His question brought Jacob out of what felt like a trance as soon as he summoned the weapon. He now looked down at himself wielding a sword, that he held above a cowering group of patrolmen that, despite their covered faces, looked terrified. He looked over to the woman, whose strong no-nonsense expression was replaced with one of fright. And he realized they feared him.
He hesitated and took a step back.
Recalling the menu on the screen – he took a shot and called out.
"Log off."